Move On, My Spartan
by SpartaLazor
Summary: After the death of Cortana, John tries to move on with the help of a new AI that ONI had sent him. But, as time goes on, will John be able to overcome the tradgedy? Or will one catastrophic event bring him down? This was a one shot turned into a full story.
1. Chapter 1

"What if we cloned your brain again? Would that work?" John was getting pretty desprate. He had never gotten over the intial shock of losing Cortana, but he had set to work finding any way to get her back. John had his Mark VII helmet tucked under his shoulder, looking at the prisoner.

Docter Catherine Halsey had been quite surprised when the long lost hero had come to visit her. She was still in custody, and she hadn't expected to see John-117 again. "Well, it could." Halsey could see the look on his face. Pale from being in his armor for so long, with scars every here and there. "But since I have aged since Cortana was originaly created, it could have fatal side effects. Plus she never would remember anything that had happened. It would just be a new AI with her face."

John thought for a moment. "That's better than nothing. Do you think that-"

"John, I hate to be rude to humanity's single most important savior, but, you need to let her go. You'll never see her again You have to move on." Hasley sighed, and put her head in her hands. The two sat in akward silence.

The silence was broken when the cell door slid up, revealing a young Marine. She walked in and caught a glimpse of the towering Spartan, and weakly said, "There's a message for a John-117. It's from Commander Lasky. He wants you to go to meet him on the bridge of the Infinity." She quickly walked out of the room.

John put his helmet back on. "Just another delay," he muttered to himself. He really wanted to get back to finding a way to get Cortana back.

* * *

Lasky heard the clunking of heavy metal boots behind him, and turned to face the Spartan. "Chief, ONI sent you a gift, but I don't expect you to take it." He went over to a nearby terminal and pulled an AI chip out. Lasky walked back over to John and handed it to him. "Meet Destinee, the newest smart AI model. Smarter than most others, and only one was known to be better than her. Care to guess who that was?"

Most people on the deck of the Infinity had heard the surprising stories of the legendary Spartan and his equally legendary AI. The two had been practically inseperable. They had known that Chief would rather die, than to ever be without Cortana. Those people were suprised at what happened next.

John slowly raised the chip to the back of his helemt, hesistated, and inserted Destinee. The comm screen on his HUD came to life, revealing a teal avatar of a woman, with dark green hair down to her shoulders. She looked at him and smiled. "Nice to meet you face-to-face. I've heard a lot about you."

Lasky looked at John. "Now for the reason a called you here, Chief." He glanced at the crew around them. "Could we have the bridge to ourselves?" The crew slowly left, leaving them alone. "A message was sent to the Infinity from the Didact's ship shortly before it blew. It was locked with a three number code. Care to guess what those numbers were?"

"One, one, and a seven?"

"Bingo. It was meant for you, and so far I'm the only one who has read what the message says." He brought up the text on the hologram projector. "Take your time," Lasky said as he exited the bridge.

John inspected the text. It was written like a haiku from Earth, but no one had used them in years. He read the text:

_I know it is hard,_

_I know you can go on 'cause,_

_You are my Spartan._

_Spartans never die,_

_That was always a big lie,_

_That fooled everyone._

_The Flood and the Ring,_

_You fought alone all the way,_

_Move on, my Spartan._

_The Delta Halo,_

_Prophet of Regret you killed,_

_Move on, my Spartan._

_The Ark was the dusk,_

_Our last stand before the Dawn,_

_Move on, my Spartan._

_Left alone in space, _

_Rampancy on the attack,_

_Move on, my Spartan._

_In the very end,_

_I made the right choice for you,_

_You are My Spartan._

_Goodbye John. If you haven't moved on, go ahead. It's not the end of the world._

_-PS, That was a bitch to write, so you better like it!_

_-Cortana_

Chief stared at the haiku in complete awe. He felt like he was going to cry. He saved a copy to the Infinity's database, and left the bridge with Destinee, ready to move on.

_**A/N: That was my first one-shot, so if it didn't really go as you wanted, well, I'll try to get better. If that was any good, I might expand on it, but only if a lot of people feel like I should.**_

_**-Peace out!**_


	2. Chapter 2: War Games

Chapter Two: War Games

Chief walked down the nearly empty halls of the Infinity. There were only a few people scattered around, mostly cleaning crews and repair technicians.

"So, tell me about yourself," Destinee said, trying to strike up a conversation.

"Just read my file. But first, tell me about you," John answered.

"Not much to tell. I was created only two months ago, and was tested in the War Games simulator a few times, but never seen any real combat."

This "War Games simulator" was new to John. He had to ask. "What are the War Games?"

Destinee chuckled. "How can you nnot have heard? There the newest form of military training."

John dodged a group of three Spartan IV's running toward the opposite end of the ship. "Well, sleeping in a freezer in outer space doesn't really give any time to get caught up."

On the comm screen, Destinee face-palmed. "Right, how'd I forget that? If you want to go to the War Games, just follow those Spartans that ran past.

John thought about it for a moment. He was still stressing over Cortana. Maybe the best thing was to try to forget. _I doubt I can actually forget. _John looked for the Spartans, but they were no where in sight.

"It's right here," Destinee marked a location on the HUD. "Thanks," John said as he walked toward it.

* * *

The map marker led to a large room, so large that you could easily fit a UNSC Frigate into there. There was a terminal in the middle of the room, with the three Spartans around it. They were trying to decide who was on what team.

"Cooper, you go solo, and me and Ginger will be on a team," said the one in green Gen II Scout armor.

"Dude, stop calling me that," said the one in blue Gen II Recon armor. His helmet was off, and you could see his bright red hair from anywhere in that big room.

"Both of you, stop being assholes. We need a fourth player to be fair," said Cooper, in his Gen II EVA armor, with the BREACH armor skin.

John walked up to them. "If you need a fourth, I'll join." The Spartans looked toward John. Ginger let out a low whistle. "We got the famous Serria 117 with us. Dibs on his team!"

Cooper spoke up. "Since ya'll two are going to be on a team, then I'm on his team."

"I'll go solo, you three can be on the same team," John offered. The IV's agreed on this.

"You pick the map, Chief," Cooper said as his team retreated to on side of the room. John looked at the terminal screen, and there were three options; Ragnarok, Power House, Boneyard. "Just pick the one you want," Destinee said. John hesistated for a minute, before selecting Ragnarok. "Allright, now go to the edge of the room, and wait for the match to start."

John walked to the other side of the large room, which took about a minute due to the size. "Stand on that blue circle, and you should be set," Destinee said in a cheery voice.

Chief noticed something right then. "We don't have any weapons." Destinee smiled. "Just wait for it."

Suddenly, John's HUD went black, and the words 'Synching Map' appeared in blue. Destinee went into a full explanation. "That means that your Heads Up Display is downloading the map to your HUD. The War Games room will change to fit the map, but the HUD brings the texture and coloring into it."

The blackness changed into a scenery of grass, a few trees, and a large hill in the middle of the map. An option screen that said 'Select Loadout' appeared on John's HUD. Destinee laughed. "This one is self explantiory." John selected the one quite suitibly called "Jetpack." He spawned behind a large Forerunner structure, and noticed that the equipment from the loadout he had chosen was on the ground in front of him.

As he reached down to grab it, he noticed that his armor was blue, not green. "Uh, Cort- Destinee, my armor has-"

"-changed color? It does that to show what team you are on. I thought that would have been obivious."

"Well, I picked this map because my armor was green, I would blend in." He finished attaching his jetpack and picked up the Magnum and Assualt Rifle. John put the pistol on his hip, and saw an icon of a Sniper Rifle. Assuming it meant that there was one there, he went for it, swapping his pistol for it. "Okay, now what?"

"Kill the enemy team. It's not that hard. John looked at the fine assortment of vehicles at the base. Two Mongooses...Mongeese...Whatever, a Worthog, a Banshee, and a Manits, not to mention a Ghost. He ignored them for now, and went up the ramp that led to the top of the base. There were gravity cannons in the middle and on the right side of the trapazoid shaped base. He took up a defensive position on the left side of the center gravity cannon. And waited. And waited. And waited.

Finally ,a red Spartan in Recon armor could be seen crouching next to a tree on top of the hill. John put his head in the crosshairs, but hesistated on the trigger. "It's not real. You can do it," Destinee assured him. John squeezed the trigger.

There was a loud bang as the bullet hit its target. The words 'First Strike' and 'Sniper Kill' appeared on John's HUD. "The Spartans thought it would be more fun to make like a video game and have points and all that," said Destinee, and John menatlly face-palmed. _New Spartans..._

Fifteen minutes later, the match had ended. The score: Blue Team-170, Red Team;10. They had actually gotten a kill when John was killed by a falling, empty, half-destroyed Banshee.

When he exited the room, Commander Lasky was waiting for him. "Some one wants to see you on the bridge, Chief."

Once they had gotten to the bridge, John recognized the aged man in a white Navy uniform.

"Good to see you alive and well, son," said Lord Terrence Hood.

_**A/N: Well, if you haven't noticed, this will be a full story. If you aren't happy with that, then don't read it. The first chapter will remain the same, as the original one-shot it was going to be. **_

_**I don't know much about the whole War Games setup, so I just made up some stuff.**_

_**Review, read, favorite, fallow, do what you want. Hope you enjoy.**_

_**Peace out!**_


	3. Chapter 3: Where to Go from Here

_Chapter Three: Where to Go from Here_

UNSC Infinity Bridge; December 10, 2557; 9:56am

"Lord Hood, sir," John said as he saluted Hood.

"At ease, Chief." Hood walked to the window of the bridge and stared out into space. "For four years, four long years, everyone thought you were dead. And then, out of nowhere, you come back to save humanity's ass once more." Hood smiled. "You never cease to amaze me."

"I aim to please, sir."

"Really?" Destinee cut in. "That is the most over-used line in the military."

Hood looked back at John. "I heard about Cortana, who hasn't. But I never expected you to take another AI." John just shrugged. "Well," Hood continued, "Are you going to introduce me?"

John removed Destinee's chip from his helemt and put it in the terminal. The teal avatar appeared, with her hair now teal to match her body. "I am UNSC AI DST 57684-3849, you may call me Destinee."

"I am Terrence Hood." Destinee nodded, and Hood turned back to John. "I suppose that you want to get filled in on what had happened since you left."

"Yes, sir."

"Shortly after you dissapeared, the Arbiter and I were campaigning for an Sangheili-Human alliance. I went to Sangheilos and the deal was made. Well, this caused a civil war between the elites. Meanwhile, ONI was able to find Docter Halsey, and they used her knowledge of Forerunner technology to build the Infinity. The Infinity went on a mission to find the remaining Halo rings, they found coordinates to Requiem on Installation 03, and then they found you. That's pretty much everything in a nutshell. Any questions?"

"No, sir. Well, actually, what happens to me now? The war is over, and Spartans aren't exactly in high demand."

"Well, the Infinity will be returning to Requiem later this year. You can go along with them," Hood responded, stroking his chin.

"I don't know, sir. I might," John would have to think about that. If he went, he would be reminded about Cortana. After all, they had been shipwrecked there together for a few days. If he stayed, nothing was going on and his life might get boring. Then a thought hit him; _The Librarian. She just might be able to get me Cortana back. _

"Sir," he said, getting Hood's attention. "I guess I'm going back to Requiem." The bridge crew high-fived, and one brave soul ran up to John and held up his fist. John, not knowing about all the crazy human customs, slowly raised his armored fist also. The man hit his fist against John's, and the crew cheered. _Weirdos, _the Spartan thought.

"If you want, Chief, I can put you in charge of a fireteam," Lasky said as he walked up. John was used to fighting alone, and a fireteam might slow him down. "No thank you, sir. I work better alone."

"Are you sure? The Spartans I had in mind could use some guidance from the best. If you don't take a fireteam, then perhaps you could be the Spartan trainer? Teach them everything you know, and the Covenant will get the hell whipped outta them."

John considered this possibility. "I could give it a try, sir."

"Okay, thanks. The Infinity won't be leaving for a few months, and I want my Spartans battle ready," Lasky said as he left the bridge.

"Well," Hood said, "I have some important matters to attend to. See you around, Chief."

* * *

UNSC Infinity; War Games Simulation Room; December 14, 2557; 11:23am

John looked out at the twenty Spartan VI's in front of him. That was all that were aboard, as the rest were on leave on Earth or Luna. This was the first day of the training, and the first thing he was going to do was find out who the strongest were and who the weakest were.

He walked to the terminal in the middle of the room and looked for a gametype. "Okay, I need eight volunteers for...Grifball?" He stared at the crowd, and seven hands went up. "I still need one more." No one else raised their hand. "If no one raises their hand soon, I'll be the last player."

There were a few excited mumurs throughout the Spartans, and one of the ones that had her hand raised said; "Shit! Raise you fucking hand, Ginger!"

"Well, since you asked so nicely, hell no," Ginger replied.

Well, looks like I'm in," John said. The seven Spartans groaned. The lucky ones would be on his team.

Ginger turned to John, saluted, and asked; "Permission to record session for later humiliation, sir."

John mentally face-palmed. "Permission granted. Now, will all non-players exit the simulation room?" The remaining Spartans left the room, and John pressed selected the map called "Grifball Court."

He and his randomly selected teammates entered the glowing blue circle on the left side while the enemy entered the glowing red circle on the other side. Their HUDs synched with the system, and the entered the game.

When John spawned, the first thing he noticed was that he was in a large room with no cover anywhere. The second thing he noticed was the Energy Sword and Gravity Hammer on the ground in front of him. He picked up the hilt of the sword and attached it to his hip, and picked up the hammer. He could remember the last time he had used one...

_John walked carefully over the purple floor, now stained with brown Flood gore. The possesed corpses of Elites and Brutes were now nothing more than a brown puddle, filled with the parasite's detached limbs. He rasied the Gravity Hammer up, ready to strike. He was in the remains of the Covenant holy city, High Charity. His mission was to blow the city up to Destroy the Ark and Installation 04B, a replica of the first Halo that the Humans had found._

_The Spartan waked down a long hallway, covered in the Flood orange stuff, that could only be described as: Holy hell! This shit smells! _

_At the end of the hallway, he could see a small half-sphere shield protecting something inside. Something he was going to get out at all costs. He brought the hammer down on the shield as hard as he could, grunting as it hit the shield. He smashed it again and again until it finally gave away. John looked down at the small blue woman laying there..._

_"You came back," she said..._

"Chief look out!" Destinee screamed. John snapped out of it right as a red Spartan swung an Energy Sword at his head. John ducked, and swung the hammer at the red's feet. The red fell to the floor, and John brought the Hammer down on the fallen Spartan. Chief watched as the body flew up at least ten feet in the air, and hit head first on the ground.

"You wanna fill me in on how this works?" John asked his new AI.

"It's simple. There is a ball, and your team has to get it into the enemy team's goal. First team to five points wins," Destinee explained. "Look at the yellow guy," she continued. John saw a yellow Spartan with a "Kill" icon above his head. "He has the ball for the enemy. Kill him and take the ball."

"Easy enough." John sprinted over to the yellow guy, who swung out at him with the ball, missing John's head by an inch. The poor yellow guy got a sword to the face, and John stole the ball. Instantly his armor turned yellow, and he sprinted toward the enemy goal. A gravity hammer hit right next to him, causing him to go flying into a wall. John got up and ran through the goal, the ball immediantly just dissapeared from his hands as he got the point. The celebration was short lived, as he was surrounded by all four red team members.

John respwaned four seconds later, grabbing his gear from the floor, rushing off into battle once more. His first target was the one jumping up and down screaming; "I killed the Master Chief!" John snuck up behind him and stabbed him through the throat with his Energy sword.

The score was 1-0, and it stayed like that until the timer ran out. John's HUD de-synched, and could see the normal room. He called all the Spartans that he was training. "That was a decent start. Next match will consist of different Spartans." John glanced down at the clock on his HUD. 12:03pm. "But, lunch will be first."

John was the first in the line, since on one wanted to get in his way. He got two servings of everything, since this was the first real food he had eaten since he was on Requiem. For three months he had been running on MRE's. Whoop-de-fucking-doo.

He sat alone at a table in the corner, while the VI's got into their groups of friends, and started chatting away. But, the room got dead silent as he slowly took off his Mark VII helmet and set it on the table next his food.

"You do know that everyone in here is staring at you, right?" Destinee asked through the helmet speakers.

"I know," he said out loud so everyone can hear him. "If they keep staring then they'll have to go one-on-one with me." Everyone went back to what they were doing.

"Mind if I sit here, sir?" a voice said. John looked up and saw the Spartan called Ginger.

"No, go ahead," he answered, returning to his food.

"Thanks, sir," Ginger said as he sat down. "Permission to speak freely, sir?"

"Go ahead."

"I've heard the stories about you and Katana, and I-"

"Cortana," John corrected.

"Right. I just want to let you know that I know what it feels like to lose someone you loved. You see I was-"

"-Yo, 117!" John put his head in his hands. This voice sounded like it came from a pimp. "If you ever need anything, booze, drugs, women, anything, I'm your man. The name's Butch. Not my real name, but that's my callsign."

"Why would I need any of those things?" John asked looking up at the Spartan in black Raider armor.

"Because they help you deal with losing someone. If you need any of those, let me know. I'll hook you up. See you around!"

Ginger sighed as Butch left. "He's the biggest dick on this ship. We've tried reporting him, but he can bribe the officers to ignore it."

John looked surprised. "You mean there's corruption on this ship?"

"Yep."

John smiled. Now there was something to do. "You want to help bring these corruptors to their knees?"

Ginger looked up. "Me?" John nodded. "Serria 117 asking for my help? I'm in. But if they catch us, they have control of our files and can fuck them up to high hell."

"I'll take that risk."

_**A/N: This story is about the life of John and coping with the death of Cortana. Since I'm just making all this stuff up, it can get quite interesting. Plus, who would have epxpected corruption on teh Infinity?**_

_**In this chapter, there is a reference to a Youtube video. The first person to PM me the reference and what video it came from can make an OC. Of course the last time I tried this, no one PM'd. I hope for a better reponse this time.**_

_**Hit the Review button and type something positive. Or negative. Or anything at all.**_

_**Peace out!**_


	4. Chapter 4: Down to Earth

_Chapter Four : Down to Earth_

UNSC Infinity War Games Observation Room; December 15; 11:11am

John watched the ongoing match with a hint of surprise. It was his Spartans taking on a different trainer's Spartans. So far, Reaper, John's trainees self-picked name, was ahead by three kills.

It was a ten-on-ten match, the first of its kind. There would be a second right after it, for the other ten Spartans. John glanced around the room, observing the people in it. The other ten Spartans that he was training were in there, watching from the windows that looked out onto the field. The windows would change to show the map that was being used, and gave a great view of the carnage. There were ten screens that showed each players HUD. Across the map, there was another room just like it for the supporters of the other team.

One idividual stood out to John. The Spartan was slightly taller than most of the others, and he had on a black Gen II Recon helemt, black Scout torso, and black Recon shoulders. He had a shotgun across his back.

"Destinee, can you get me that Spartans file?" John asked. He wanted to know who this was.

"I could, but why don't you go talk to him yourself. You can't have the AI do everything," she replied, smiling on the comm screen.

John sighed and walked over to the Spartan. They stood side-by-side, staring out a window. The Spartan looked up. "Hey, you're the Master Chief! "I've looked forward to meeting you." The black Spartan held out his hand to John. "Name's Lachlan, S-6784. Perhaps you've heard of me."

John shook Lachlan's hand and replied, "Not really. Should I have?"

Lachlan laughed. "I doubt you would have. I became pretty well known around the ship shortly after you disappeared. I used the released footage from you helmet cam and came up with some good combat plans."

"I guess it's nice to meet a fan," John said. Down in the combat field, three blue Spartans ambushed a Red Team Mantis. The Mantis brought its foot up, and then down, smashing two of the blues while the third climbed up the back and placed a Plasma Grenade on it.

"Listen, Chief," Lachlan said. "I've got a problem and I was wondering if you could help with it."

"Yo, 117!" called an all too familiar voice.

"There it is." Lachlan's hand went to the handle of his combat knife, making sure he could pull it out if nessesary.

Butch walked over and got into John's face. "My eyes around the ship tell that you going against me. That's the worse possible move. You might be a war hero, but you're still just a Spartan."

Butch walked off and Lachlan pulled an imaginary shotgun off his back and shot at Butch. Then threw an imaginary grenade.

John was smiling under his helmet. "Did he say what I thought he said, to who I thought he said it to?"

Lachlan nodded, and asked "You really trying to end his reign of assholeness?"

It was John's turn to nod. "The meeting is in Spartan B340's quarters at midnight, if you want to help."

"I'll be there."

UNSC Infinity; Spartan B341's Living Quarters, December 16; 12:03am

John, Ginger, and Lachlan had met in Ginger's room to discuss exactly how they were going to deal with this corruption. Destinee was put in a terminal that was next to the bed in the room, and in the AI slot below it was Lachlan's AI, Swiftwolf.

Swiftwolf was a dark blue AI, and she was wearing a UNSC Longsword flight suit. Destinee was teal, and wearing nothing. Quite the difference between them.

"What I've figured out," Destinee started, "Is that there is no possible way that Butch could have a steady stream of drugs and booze aboard the Infinity. Someone has to be smuggling them aboard."

"So, does that mean that we have to go planet side?" Ginger asked, excitedly.

"Yep. Butch is going on leave in twelve hours, and so will we." Swiftwolf said, after checking somethings in the Infinity database. She opened a file, read it and giggled. "What?" Destinee asked, and Swiftwolf showed her. Then Destinee giggled. "That's sweet. Could've been written better, but sweet."

"Of course, we're supposed to being planning the overthrowing of an asshole, and the AIs go all girly," Ginger sighed, as he rolled his eyes.

"Chief, you didn't tell me that Cortana was into poetry." Destinee and Swiftwolf's avatars disappered, and in thier place was the haiku that Cortana had written.

John face went red with embarassment. Not that the AIs had found it, but because he had forgotten to password-lock it. "Can we focus on the matter at hand please?"

"Allright. I scheduled us the three of you for leave at the same time as Butch, so, you might want to get packing."

UNSC Space Depot; Seattle, Former USA; December 16; 3:04pm

The Pelican had fianlly touched the ground in Seattle after a three hour flight from the Infinity. Fortuantly, Butch had not been on the same Pelican that John and company had been on, but there was still too many people to discuss a plan. Any one of them could have been working for the corrupted Spartan.

John wasn't concrened about his record being messed up if they got caught, he had Hood and Lasky, and just about every other human that had heard of his exploits on his side. But he was worried about Ginger's and Lachlan's files, as they hadn't been as well known as he was.

The back hatch of the Pelican opened, and the Spartans exited the dropship. They were wearing civilian clothing, and between the three of them, they had about two grand in cash. John was carrying his suitcase in one hand, while dragging along a cart with a huge trunk on it The metal UNSC trunk was about five teet long, and six feet tall. Massive. Lachlan and Ginger each only had one suitcase.

"Um, sir, what is in that trunk? That thing is huge," Ginger said as they walked out into the Seattle streets. There were tall buildings and roads everywhere, and leaving no room for any grass or trees. To believe, Earth had once been a nice place.

"Your hotel should be about here," Destinee said, through the cell phone that they had bought. Destinee was still aboard the Infinity, and the Spartans had her on a constant link. Sorta like a comm, only you charged long distance.

"Where?" John asked.

"Right, forgot that you were out of your armor, I set a waypoint," Destinee said, and then corrected herself. "It's right in front of you. How can you not see it? There is a big neon sign that says; Woodworth Hotel."

Lachlan looked at the building across the street from them. "Well, what do you know? It does."

They checked, and got a suprised look from the desk clerk. Not many tall men that carried extremely heavy sitcases and a large trunk asked for the penthose suite. Destinee had already booked it for them, and made sure that there would be no questions asked about luggage.

"Its got a great view," Ginger said as he looked out the window. He opened his suit case and pulled out his combat knife from under his clothes. "I came prepared."

"That;s what you called prepared?" Lachlan scoffed, and opened his suitcase, tossing the spare clothes inside, revealing his combat knife and a UNSC pistol with three spare clips.

They both looked at John. "Bring any weapons, sir?" Ginger asked, afriad of what the legendary Spartan might have in the suitcase.

John smirked and dumpd out is suitcase on a bed. There were no spare clothes, but there was a collaspable Assualt Rifle, eight spare clips for it, four frag grenade, four plasma grenades, a magnum with four spare clips, a combat knife, and the hilt of an Energy Sword. Lachlan busted out luaghing, while Ginger stood with his mouth wide open.

Once the red haired Spartan had recovered from the inital shock, he asked; "How the hell did you fit all of that in there?"

John smiled. "It was about as easy as fitting three sets of MJOLNIR Gen II armor into a oversized trunk."

Ginger looked over at the trunk, which had taken the combined strength of the Spartans to get in the elevator. Then back at John, and back to the trunk again. "No, you didn't," he said as a smile began to cross his lips. John nodded. Ginger ran over and opend the lid. There were the three sets of armor, broken down into individual pieces, with most of the smaller pieces inside the helmets. The chest pieces were on the bottom, with the arm and leg pieces on top of them. The undersuits were folded nicely and the helmets were on top of it all. Sideways, crammed in between the helmets, were three jet packs.

"There is no way in hell you could have done this," Ginger said as he took it all in. "Dude, you are awesome."

John reached into his pocket and pulled out an object. "For Lochlan," he said. Lachlan caught it. It was Swiftwolf's chip.

"Okay," Lachlan said. "How did you get all of this through security?"

"I have connections."

"Okay, we've got enough gear. When do we make our move?" Ginger asked.

"Destinee is tracking Butch through his IFF tag, and we know where his hotel is," John informed them. "We move out tonight."

_**A/N: The OC was Lachlan, created by arbiter6784.**_

_**Please read and review! Thanks!**_

_**Peace out!**_


	5. Chapter 5: Invasion

_Chapter Five : Invasion_

_Part 1_

It took the Spartans the rest of the day to put on their armor, since they weren't able to smuggle one of the machines that could do it in seconds out of the Infinity.

Ginger and Lachlan look almost the same. Ginger had blue Recon armor, and Lachlan had black-grey Recon armor with a Scout chest piece.

John gave Ginger his pistol, since the only thing that Ginger had brought with him was a combat knife. He gave out two grenades to each of the other Spartans, one frag, one plasma. He kept the other six.

It was midnight, and the stars were out and the moon, Luna, was bright. "Let's go," John said, as he loaded a clip in his Assualt Rifle.

"Um, sir, don't you think it would be completely akward to see three fully armored Spartans in the elevator?" Ginger asked, as he put put his pistol on his hip.

"Who said anything about elevators?" John asked as he checked his jet pack, and opened the door to the balconey. He took a few steps back, and ran to the opened door, the floor creaking under the weight at each step. He jumped out the window and into the night.

"Finally, something fun," Lachlan commented as he ran and jumped off the top floor of the two hundred story building.

"I'm not that fucking crazy," Ginger said. He looked off the edge, and saw two small flashes of light, John and Lachlan's jet packs. He rolled his eyes and jumped.

He could hear the air zipping past him, and saw the ground coming up to meet him. He activated his jet pack, which slowed his stop. A green armored hand grabbed him by the shoulder and yanked him onto the building to that he was passing, and was within two feet of hitting it.

"Destinee, give us Butch's location," John ordered.

"Well, someone got bossy. Here," Destinee marked the location, a dot appeared on their HUDs. It was moving, so the Spartans would have to be fast.

"Spartan B143 is currently moving south at-" She was cut off.

"Destinee? Destinee?" John tried to open the comm with her, but he failed. He then saw the small crowds of civilians on the roof.

"Oh God, they sent Spartans! Is it that bad?" One man asked.

"Is what that bad?" Ginger asked, confused.

"Oh shit. It's bad if Spartans don't know," a teen in the back commented. The man pointed to the sky, and the Spartans looked up. There were random flashes of light way up in the sky. Then, there was one large flash, and the emergency sirens around the city began to wail.

There were four types of sirens in the city. The first was for earthquakes. The second was for fires. The third was for a drill in case the Covenant showed up. The fourth was for when the Covenant did show up. It was the fourth one.

A woman in the group screamed, and everyone looked into the sky. A UNSC frigate was slowly falling to the ground, with over ninety percent of it covered in flames. An explosion rocked the city as the frigate blew up, spreading wreakage everywhere.

The main body of the ship hit the ground several miles from where the Spartans stood, and it leved skyscrapers and sent out a shockwave of dust and smoke. The wave hit John, Ginger, Lachlan, and the civilians with enough force to knock the civilians down, and alomst knock down the Spartans.

John turned on his helmets flashlight, which gave him a limited range of sight through the dust that was blanketing the city. "We have to get out of here, and we are not going to leave the civies," John told the other two Spartans. He had seen plenty of civilians die in his career, it came with the job.

"Holy fuck!" It was the teen again. Up in the sky, John could see a Covenant Cruiser.

"Well, that complicates things," Lachlan said, not losing his cool.

"They definitely launching dropships, sir. This will be fucking hard to get off the planet," Ginger said. "The major ports will be filled up, and, well, we don't have many planets to go to."

The man from the group walked up to John, with two men behind him. "Spartan, this is Earth. Our homeworld," the man said. He was in his fifties, as was the two men behind him, and had whit hair and a stubbly beard. "We will fight to protect her. Even to the death. If you need our help, you have it."

John nodded. "We need all the help we can get."

The man held his hand out ot John. "Name is Marcus. Marcus Phillips."

The green armored Spartan shook the mans hand. "John 117."

Marcus smiled. "The John 117? You're a real hero to my nephew. He once saw you in action. It made him want to kick the damn Covies fucking ass."

"Lachlan, where is the nearest armory?"

"Why would you ask me? I don't know?" Lachlan responded.

"Well, Swiftwolf will know, right?"

"Of course I would. It's what I do," Swiftwolf said as the blue UNSC pilot AI appeared on the comm screen. "it should be just northeast a few miles." She marked it on the HUD.

"Allright, let's move out," John ordered. "All civilians stay with a Spartan."

"Can I get a few things from my apartment, please?" Marcus aksed John.

"Just hurry. We have to get out fast before the Covenant begin the glassing procedure."

Marcus scurried off into the dust, and a young man with dark hair and glasses voiced his thoughts. "Glassing. That's where the ships fire superheated plasma at the suface of the planet, reducing the surface to glass."

"Thank you, Mr. Genius. We know that. It was on the news for the past twenty years," the teen nest to him said. There were a few lighthearted laughs.

Marcus came back to the roof, and across his back, there was a Sniper Rifle, on his hips, were two old fashioned revolvers, and he had a bag full of ammo across his back. "Let's go." he said.

The group decended down the fire escape with the help of the Spartan's helmet flashlights. They reached the ground after about a half hour of climbing downwards, which is hard to do when there is a ton of dust. John led the group through the city, and noticed that there was no one around. His radio crackled to life.

_"This is the UNSC Predujice. Crash landing the city after the Cov..._

The radio went dead. Almost on cue, another UNSC ship, this time a Marathon Class ship, or rather the front half of it, came plummeting to the city, creating another shockwave.

"Okay," Ginger said, after the dust had blown past them. "We go from attempting to stop corruption aboard the Infinity to fighting off Covenant forces in less than five minutes."

"It's called being a Spartan," Lachlan said, shutting the red haired Spartan up.

Suddenly, the ground shook, and the sky glowed red. The Covenant Cruiser had began to glass the city, and there was nothing the Spartans could do for the poor souls who couldn't escape the invaders.

Earth's Orbit; December 17;1:01am

Tra'e Ve'dmae was in control of the invasion forces. He was currently aboard the flagship in the fleet, and had ordered all troops to the human's largest ship. They couldn't destroy it since it had some of the holy Forerunners technology in it. Once that had been confiscated, then the couls blow it up.

"Bring the human to me," Tra'e ordered the two Minors that were on the bridge. The left the room, and then returned with a badly beaten human, draggin him between their shoulders.

"You...you bastard," The human managed to say.

"We had a deal. My Special Operations teams would steal this human substance that you call alcohol, and other substances in return for information on the...Infinity, I believe you called it," Tra'e said in broken english.

"Yeah, but you forgot to mention that you were with the Storm Covenant, not the Sephratists. like you said you were," the human spat back.

"But you believed me. You are a fool and a Heretic," The Elite said, lifting the human off the ground by his neck. "And now you die."

The human smiled. He swung his hand down and swiped the plasma grenades off of Tra'e's hip, and primed them. "Surprise, motherfucker!" he shouted as the stuck them into the Elites face. They exploded, and had killed the both of them. Butch had made a noble sacrifice after betraying his speices.

_**A/N: As you can probably tell, I making this stuff up as I go along.**_

_**The next chapter might be a little later than I want, since I will be at the North Carolina Science Olmpiad on Saturday. If any of you are there, that is awesome.**_

_**One last thing; To the readers of my other story, Three Are Better Than One, I have a poll on my profile asking if you want Noble Six to appear in this story. Please don't answer in a review, but in that poll. I'm only asking because Six is that character that if he isn't in a story, you kinsa miss him.**_

_**Review, please, because nothing can describe that feeling you get when the review page for your story is loading, and there is new reviews on it.**_

_**Peace out!**_


	6. Chapter 6: Invasion

_Chapter Six ; Invasion _

_Part 2-_

UNSC Infinity Bridge; December 17; 1:23am

Lasky brought his fist down on the holotable. "Roland, how did they do this? They sent boarding parties before they sent the fleet, and all four boarding parties hit a valuble area. The Spartan deck went first, then the Armory, then the engine room, and now the took the main cannons offline. There is no way that this was random."

The ship shook with an explosion. "All I know," the orange AI said, is that the fleet they have is larger than th one at Requiem. My best guess, is that someone sold us out."

"But what human would do that? We almost got wiped out in the Human-Covenant War. I don't see why someone would do that, it doesn't add up." Lasky sighed. "It would have been someone with a motive."

Sarah Palmer and three other Spartans walked into the bridge. They had their undersuits on, and apparently had been away from their armor when the Covenant attacked.

"Sir, we just lost the War Games room. And thirty-two Spartans, all young recruits," Palmer informed him.

Lasky fell into a chair and put his head in his hands. "I don't know what to do." The bridge was silent, with the occasional MAC Round being fired from one of the other ships to break the silence.

"I've sent called for reinforcements, but it'll take them a week to get here," a new voice said as it entered the bridge. Lord Hood walked over to the holotable, and looked at the projection of the battle. It didn't look good.

"With all due respect, sir, we can't hold out that long. They have at least two hundred ships, and they're still coming in. I say we order a retreat to Reach. We could start to rebuild there, get the shipyards in working order, and return when we have more ships. After all, didn't the Arbiter give us that planet back?"

"So you say we just leave? To Reach? Just leave Earth to be glassed? And then return when we have more ships? Son, I've learned one thing from the Human-Covenant War, and it's we can win against all odds. We lost all of our planets but Earth then, and we made a last stand. Against the Flood and the Covenant, and we won. And we owe most of our thanks to one man."

"Yes, I know. John 117. But he is down there, and was caught completely off guard by the attack. Completely unprepared," Lasky shot back.

"I know John, and I know that you should never underestimate him."

* * *

Earth; Seattle; Former USA; December 17; 1:53am

The flashes in the sky were becoming more frequent, and two more Covenant CCS Cruisers had entered the atmoshpere. That was all the Spartans could go on.

"So you're saying that it's still another three miles to that armory?" Ginger complained.

"Yes, and if you whine one more time, I'll change switch the marker with the armory that is seventy-two miles away," Swiftwolf said.

John and Lachlan had noticed that it was obivious that Swiftwolf wasn't a fan of Ginger, and vice-versa. "Wouldn't we move faster with a vehicle?" The teen in the back asked. "There's a bus right there." He pointed at a bus, the windows were all but shards of glass, and the doors, were slightly askew. "We can nail pieces of wood over the windows, and that should stop some of the plasma before it could get in.

John hesistated. Using the bus would expose them to a ton of plamsa fire, but time was of the essence. "Where would we get the wood?" John asked as he climbed up into the bus.

The teen jerked his thumb at a nearby hareware shop. "We can get a few hammers and several packs of nails, and some spare wood in case any thing breaks in."

The bus was empty, no surprise there. The back windows would provide a decent area to fire from if they were getting chased. The front windshield was gone, and also could be used to fire from. This might actually work. John stepped off the bus, and through the dusty sky he could barely see a Covenant Cruiser. "Hurry, they should be sending dropships any second now."

The teen and several other civilians immediantly set to work on the bus, and within ten minutes, they had boarded up the windows, all of them except the front and back. "Now, who's going to drive it?" The teen volunteered.

"Lachlan, you take the front. Ginger, you get the sides, Marcus, you get the back." The people went off to their respective locations, and John went up to the teen and helped him navigate. The tension was thick, and no one spoke.

Well, no one until the teen. "Oh fuck. Here they come!" John peered out the windshield, and saw the Phantoms. There were three, each flanked by a Banshee. He also saw at least seventeen new Covenant ships glassing the city, and other parts of the former USA off in the distance.

The Phantoms opened fire, the plasma bursts hitting the bus on top, melting through the thin metal. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. The Banshees bombed at it, but the teen jerked to the right, causing them to miss.

"Stay inside," John ordered everyone in the bus, as he opened the top hatch, and climbed out onto the roof. It creaked under its weight, but it held. He could feel the wind blowing against him, trying to push him off. He took a running jump at the nearest Phantom, grabbing it by the gun. The heavy plasma cannon twisted in different directions, trying to shake him off, but he pulled him self up on the main body.

He slowly climbed the Phantom's top, and then toward one of the side hatches. An few Carbine shots flew by his John's head, and he reached for his Assault Rifle.

Then a thundering crack sounded off. The Elite fell of the side of the Phantom, and its body hit the ground rolling. On top of the still-moving bus, Ginger was holding the Sniper Rifle. John's radio crackled to life once more.

"_This is Commander Lasky to all UNSC forces. The Infinity is being overrun, and I am authorizing full evacuation of the system. If you can hear me, leave as soon as possible. Only the ship captains have been given the location of our regrouping place." _

John almost lost his grip on the swerving Phantom. Humanity was abandoning their homeworld? IN anger, John primed a frag and threw it into the Phantoms troop bay. A dead Elite rolled out of the side door.

John swund downward, and into the troop bay, emptying a clip into an Elite, the last in the dropship. The Elite stimbled backward, and promptly fell out of the vehicle. Now for the pilot...

* * *

UNSC Infinity Bridge; December 17; 3:43am

"It was the only option, sir," Lasky said to Hood, as he closed the comms. "We'll regroup and return."

Hood sighed. "Maybe it was the best move." He tapped a few things into a console. "I sent the destination to our reinforcements. They should be there when we arrive."

"Sir," a young Marine walked up to them. "The Pelican is ready in bay 94. We need to hurry, this is the last bird outta here."

Lasky, Hood, Palmer, and a few other Marines rushed into the bay, and into the last Pelican. It took off toward frigate, their ridwe outta the system. Lasky looked out the back window and sighed in regret. They had gotten no civilians out as far as he knew.

The Pelican's radio picked up a transmission. _"This is Spartan 117 inbound to the UNSC _Heroic Deed_. Using a stolen Phantom, sending our waypoint." _

"At least he got off," Lasky muttered to himself. The Pelican touched down in the Heroic Deed, and shortly after, a Phantom followed as well. Lasky watched from the back of the now-empty Pelican as the green-armored Spartan, followed by a blue Spartan, and a black Spartan, and seven civilians, came down the gravity lift.

John shot Lasky a dirty look from behind his helmet, and walked on toward the bridge. Lasky sighed once more. Maybe this wasn't the best idea. Every Marine, ODST, and Spartan in the bay just stood in silence as the frigate jumped into slipspace.

* * *

Requeim; December 17; 3:43am

"The Reclaimer helped us, and now we shall repay him. And you will offer your apology."

"And how will we repay the Reclaimer? And, should I ask, so soon? I had only found you again."

"This isn't real. I'm truly am lightyears away, safe from danger."

"Can you tell me where, Librarian. I had to steal a human ship to get here, and I am tired of searching."

"I will only tell you if you help the Reclaimer."

* * *

_**A/N: Sorta a mysertious ending. I tried my best at making the Librarian realistic, but I'm not perfect. I'm only human. *cough-wort-cough* **_

_**I bet you never would've guessed that Lasky would have abandoned Earth, but hey, I try to make the characters live as sucky as possible, before making the ending a good one.**_

_**The poll is still up, and I admire whoever voted for the "Cheese" option. Why would you do that?**_

_**If there are any new writers to this site and need some advice, just let me know. I enjoy helping others.**_

_**Reveiw, or whatever it is you do.**_

_**Peace out!**_


	7. Chapter 7: Every Broken Road

_Chapter Seven; Every Broken Road..._

_Part One Finale_

UNSC Heroic Deed; In Orbit above Reach; December 23, 2557; 4:42pm

"Back to Earth! Back to Earth! Back to Earth!" Lasky popped another headache pill as the chanting continued. The commander had locked himself inside his quarters after mobs of Marines, and even a few Spartans had ganged up on him.

He sighed as he gazed out the window. Several frigates, three Helcyons, and five Marathon cruisers had formed up away from the rest of the fleet. They battlegroup, calling themselves Earth's Liberators, had plans to return to Earth on a siuicide mission in an attempt to retrieve the Infinity, and then retake Earth. Lasky's eyes wandered over to the glassed planet in front of him. There was still a patch of green here and there, since most of the Covenant fleet had hightailed it over to the Halo ring once it had been found. Or maybe that was the place that the damn Forerunner crystal had been.

With another sigh, he sat down in his desk chair, and contacted Commander Palmer. "How does it look down there?" He asked.

"Nothing but dust and echoes, sir. We're heading for the unglassed patch of the planet, there has to be something there."

The next question was a stupid one. "Are there any survivors?"

"After four years, no, sir."

"Let me know if you find anything."

"Yes sir." Lasky cut the comm, and stared at his desk, and the two items on it. A bottle of whisky and a Bible that one of his friends had sent him. His friend was a strong believer. A hard choice between the two...

UNSC Legend Bridge, In orbit above Reach; December 23, 2557; 4:58pm

John had transferred to another ship when he got the chance. His followers, Lachlan and Ginger, had joined him. John was currently speaking with the captian of the Legend, and they were planning for the return to Earth.

"If the frigates mass together, then they could punch a hole in the Covenant fleet, and the Pelicans could make a beeline for the Infinity," said Captian Jonathen Andrews. "What do you think, Chief?"

"It wouldn't work, sir." John guestured at the rest of the fleet through the window. "We'd get crushed before we even got into position."

"Well, isn't your new AI still on the Infinity? Perhaps she could-" He was cut off when John smashed his fist down on the holotable. The Spartan _knew _that he had forgotten something. How could he have been so stupid?

"Calm down, Chief. I'm sure your AI is fine," Andrews assured him. "After all, with all the Forerunner gear that went into that ship, I'm sure they didn't destroy it."

John needed a plan. Cortana had always been the one to come up with the plans. But, she had begun to crack after the crash on Requiem. "Wait, Requiem, that's it!" John shouted, much to the surprise of the crew. He turned to the captian. "We need to go to Requiem, sir."

"What? Why? The Covenant had a fleet there the last time we were there, and it could still be there."

"I'll only need one ship. I think I have a solution to the Covenant invasion."

"One ship? It and all the men on it will get slaughtered in a minute. I don' think it would be a good-"

John interrupted him again. "Then empty the ship. I'll go alone. I need a Broadsword and a Havok nuke, though, sir."

"Make that a double order on the Broadsword. Hold the mustard," said Lachlan as he walked into the bridge, shotgun across his back.

"Hey, what am I chopped liver?" Ginger complained as he also entered the bridge.

"Yes," Lachlan answered.

Andrews sighed. "Do you really think this would work?" John nodded. "So be it. But, I'm still going to have my men switch ships."

Three hours later...

The ship had been empited, and every piece of equipment had been evacuated except three Broadswords and three Havok nukes.

"Okay, so what the hell are we doing?" Ginger asked, unprofessionally.

"I met the Librarian when I was on Requiem. She wanted me to defeat the Didact, and I did. She owes me a favor," John answered, and turned to Lachlan. "Swiftwolf will have to make the slipspace jump calculations."

Lachlan silently put the AI's chip in the terminal. "To Requiem," Lachlan told Swiftwolf. The pilot AI nodded, and the hologram faded. "What now?" He asked John.

"We prep the Broadswords, and then we go down to Requiem's surface. From there, we head to the place where I saw the Librarian, and that's where we start searching."

The Broadswords were waiting in the hanger as the Spartans entered. They had already been outfitted with the nukes, and were held up by docking cranes, with ladders leading to the pilot seats.

Swiftwolf's voice came over the intercom. "Slipspace jump commencing in ten seconds. It'll be a week long flight, so you all might want to get comfortable. Oh, and the cryo bay is available."

John managed to supress his shudder. He had a reason to hate cryobays. The last time he had been in one, it had caused his only trusted friend to go into rampancy. But, John sucked it up and followed the other two Spartans in to the freezer room. There were about two hundred in the ship, spread out in case the Covenant had been able to board and take out one of them.

John slowly entered the pod numbered 16, the same number as the one that he had been on when the Dawn was floating through space. The pod's door slowly closed, and with a hiss that pressurized the pod, John fell into a deep sleep...

Requiem, December 23, 2557, 5:34pm

"The Reclaimer is returning to Requiem as we speak. Do you have the package ready?"

"I found this construct quite uncooperative. But yes, Librarian, it is ready."

"Then we shall test the Reclaimer when he arrives."

_**A/N: Yet another ending with the mysterious person talking to the Librarian. I'm sure some of you might know who it is, as I have left a few clues. If you know, please keep it to yourself. **_

_**On the other hand, I have planned for a possible sequal, but it has been uncomfirmed at this time.**_

_**A new poll is up, to see whether Lasky should take the Bible or the whiskey. I have planned out the senerios for both, so cast your vote.**_

_To Cubed Ice; __**I honestly didn't catch that mistake. Explains why I suck at math.**_

_**Peace out!**_


	8. Chapter 8: Leads Me To Where You Are

_Part Two_

_Chapter Eight; ...Leads Me To Where You Are_

UNSC Firgate Legend; December 30, 2557, 2:54am

The pod's door hissed as the week old air esacped the vents. The door opened, and John opened his eyes. All he could see was blurry objects. He blinked, and after a few tries, his vision returned. As far as he could tell, Lachlan and Ginger were still asleep, and their pods still airtightly closed.

"Swiftwolf," John asked into the emptiness. "Are you there?"

"Of course I am," The AI replied, as the pilot uniformed hologram faded into exsistance on a nearby pedistal. "Where could I go?"

John shrugged to himself. "How much farther to Requeim?"

"We're about two-hundred miles away. Short enough for the Broadswords to fly there, and far away to keep the ship safe from the Covenant fleet. I'm still going to activate the ship's cloaking, though."

John jerked his thumb at the other two Spartans, still sleeping in ice cold pods. "When are they getting up?"

"Right now." John heard the hiss of the pods, and a few seconds later, Ginger was staggering around as if he had gotten drunker than a redneck at a New Years party. Lachlan remained in the pod for a few minutes allowing himself to get adjusted, and then stood up. He managed to stay upright, even as Ginger fell to the floor.

"So, we heading out?" The black armored Spartan asked as he walked over to the terminal, going out of his way to avoid stepping on Ginger.

"It's a two-hundred mile run to Requiem from here," John said as he guestered to the holographic display of the planet. There were several Covenant cruisers around it. "We launch the three nukes at different ships, just to weaken them." He pointed at the wide-open enterance of the metal planet. "We go in here, and then form up on me. I'll lead the way."

The three Spartans walked in silence to the hanger. The Broadswords were still the the exact same as they found them. The hanger door was open, and there was a thin shield protecting them from the vacuum of space. Each Spartan climbed up the ladder an into a Broadsword. John flipped a few switches, and the warning light changed from red to green. He was ready for the flight.

"Green light, ready to move," Lachlan notified him. John nodded and waited for Ginger.

"Ready. Man, we have a date with destiny, boys," Ginger said, with his hands shaking on the controls. Flying a Broadsword was fun.

"How'd you get a date with Chief's AI?" Lachlan asked, making the last pre-flight adjustment. John cracked a smile, but kept it to himself. The docking clamps released the fighters, leaving them floating due to the engines on the bottom designed to do that.

"Lachlan, you can suck my di-" John shot out of the hanger before Ginger could finish the sentence. The roar of the engines drowned out the sound of the other two as they flew out of the hanger.

"I can't suck what you don't have." John heard Lachlan say as the roar became softer. They were still a long distance from the planet, and the Broadswords could only go so fast. It was about a ten minute flight to the planet.

"There it is," John said, as he could barely make out the metal planet in the distance. Then he saw the Covenant fleet. It seemed larger than it was when he had first seen it. Much larger.

One of the cruisers broke off from the main fleet, heading straight at them. "I think they know we're here," Ginger said, with a hint of worry in his voice.

"Is that a bad thing?" John asked. "The rest of the fleet is jumping into slipspace, so they should have their shields up," he pointed out. "The shields would have to be down to attack us, and that's when a nuke is going straight at it."

"Oh, that makes sense," Ginger agreed, losing some of the fear he had. "Dibs on the kill!" John sighed. These new Spartans were way too over estatic.

The Cruiser, as expected, lowered its shields, and several Phantoms and Space Banshees, and the occasional Seraph flew toward the three Broadswords. John immediantly opened fire with the machine guns, tearing apart the lightly armored Banshees. Lachlan pelted the Phantoms with the missles, destroying two in less than seven seconds. "Break off, get away from the Cruiser. When it lights up, you don't want to be near it." John said. Then he added, "Trust me, I've lived through one of the blast of a havok nuke. Big explosion. It sounds like-"

A extremely loud, deafening explosion cut off John. He looked up toward the Cruiser, and his helmet automatically polerized to protect his augmented eyes. The Cruiser was now in millions of separate pieces, blue flames spewing from most of them. "It sounds like that," John commented when his ears had stopped ringing. Lachlan laughed, whether at John's comment, or the fact that the Phantom that he was shooting at had just be killed by a piece of flaming blue Covenant ship was uncertain.

"Um, looks like there are more after us now, sir," Ginger informed John. Indeed, several more Cruisers had started toward them.

"Okay, every man for themselves to the opening of the planet. We'll regroup once we land," John ordered. Well, being in charge of a fireteam wasn't so bad after all. If you could call this a fireteam. "Lachlan, you have free reign of that nuke. Hit what every you want."

"No problem. This is going to be fun." The three fighter zipped off into different directions, heading for the wide open hole into Requiem. By now, most of the Cruisers had lowered their shields to let out their own ships. Plasma, lasers, and bullets flew throught the air as a second Covenant Cruiser exploded, heavily damaging a nearby one with the wreakage. "Whoo-hoo!" Lachlan yelled as he flew through the debree field. His Broadsword was a little scorched after he came out, but it was of no concern to him.

John did a barrel roll to avoid the plasma torpedeos launched by the Phantoms behind him. He already had his target picked out. There was a Covenant Assualt Carrier, larger than any of the other Cruisers here. The presence of the ship made him feel certain that he had found the place where the Covenant had come form. Now, how to get it to lower its shields...

Of course, the Covenant had learned their lesson. No more crusiers had lowered their shields. Instead, they moved to cover the entrance to the giant metal planet. John sighed. There was pretty much no way to take out the Carrier. So he settled for a Cuiser. John fired his nuke at a ship, hoping that the shields were down. They were. The Cruiser blew, sending pieces of it toward the ships at the enterance, creating a perfect hole to fly through. Now or never...

John flew right through the hole, and right into the enterance. A Cruiser flying out of the planet was waiting on the inside, and it fired a large EMP, disabling John's Broadsword, and about fifty Covenant fighters that were tailing him.

"Fuck!" John screamed for the first time in a long time. "It's a trap!" he tried to warn Ginger and Lachlan. But the comms were offline, so all he could do was fall. But why not fall in style?

John kicked the fighters canopy open, and let himself fly out. He saw several of the disabled Covenant fighters falling, and that was not how he was going to die. The ground of the planet was rushing up to meet him, so John braced for impact.

The crash was all a blank to him. He opened his eyes, and saw the wreakage around him. The broadsword had been torn into many pieces, and it had crushed a wall of a UNSC frigate. Wait there wasn't a frigate that had come in with them. As far as he knew, Swiftwolf and the UNSC Legend were safley away from the Covenant fleet. But that could only mean...

His fear was comfirmed when he saw the writing on the wall. Literally. Written on one side of the wall was; _UNSC FFG 201 Forward Unto Dawn. _Holy shit. John lifted his head off the ground, and looked around. This was the place he and Cortana had crashed almost three months ago.

A familiar female voice echoed through his ears. _This place will become your home. This place will become your tomb._

_**A/N: The poll is still up, and will be taken down when the next chapter is posted. **_

_**I tried to make this chapter awesome, and I had First of The Year by Skrillex stuck in my head. For those of you that have heard it, it is awesome.**_

_**That is all.**_

_**Peace out!**_


	9. Chapter 9: Revelations

_Chapter Nine : Revelations_

Requiem; December 30, 2557; 5:56pm

John stood up amongst the smoking ruins of his fighter. He gazed at the remains of the Dawn, that were charred and blackened. Pieces of metal bent and half-buried in the dirt. The occasional Covenant Cruiser pieces. The clock on his HUD said that it was about seventeen hours after he had intially crashed. He must have been out for a while. John looked out at the ruins. It still looked the exact same as it had when he had first crashed here. The bones of the Covenant species that hadn't made it through were still there, making the scene a ghastly one. John ingored it, and tried to raise Lachlan and Ginger on the comms.

"Lachlan, this is Chief. Do you read?" Nothing but static. "Ginger, do you read?"

"...an...make...sig...ir" John was surprised. He was expecting not to get a response. "Come in Ginger, do you read?"

"...no...an't...ou...uckin...ssho...dswor...fifty..." John took off running, attempting to get a better signal. He ran down the same paths that he had three months earlier. Through the cave, and out at the cliff over looking the Forerunner structure. As far as he could tell, nothing had changed. It was still the senic overlook that it had been. He was still to far to make out a good signal, so he continued. He slowed to a walk as he reached the place where he had flipped an overturned Warthog. "Wait, Warthog!" John exclaimed as he remembered all the vehicles that he had left behind.

Sure enough, there were still three Warthogs left behind. John sighed with relief, and headed to the one that looked like it was in best condition. It was parked inside a piece of the Dawn, and not too far away was a weapon crate full of Assualt Rifles. He picked one and took all the ammo, and jumped into the Warthog. As he drove, memories came flooding back to him. This was where he and Cortana had discussed her "condition." She had given him hope of saving her, only for him to be crushed whne she died.

He was barreling through the tunnels filled with debree, the same as he had before, when he picked up the signal again. "..hey...can you read...I'm trapped in my Broadswo...Covenant..." The signal had faded as quicky as it had came. But, it had given John valueble information. The location of his teammate, and that he was trapped.

John put the pedal to the medal as he flew through his memory lane. He came out to the place where the Covenant had landed when they had first gotten into the planet. There was still some of the anti gravity platforms smashed up and on the ground. The Warthog's tires crunched over something, and John realized that the Covenant had left some of the bodies here too. Just Grunts, though. He drove forward until he saw a familiar sight.

His old Warthog, the one he had to abandon, was still parked right infront of the small, waist-high cliff that was impossible to get a Warthog up. John lept from his new Warthog here, and ran on foot. He was extremely glad that he hadn't met anymore Prometheans yet.

"Reclaimer." John stopped in his tracks. He recognized that voice. It was the voice of a artifical intelligence that he had thought long dead. He gripped his Assualt Rifle and turned to face the voice. He raised the weapon at the floating metal ball with a blue circle of light in the middle.

"Reclaimer, this is no time for hostilities," 343 Guilty Spark said.

John didn't lower the weapon. "I killed you. I thought you were dead."

"You _did _kill me. Or more accuratly, the original me. I am merely a duplicate of the first," Spark responded. "The Librarian and I have been waiting for your return." The metal ball began to float away. "Oh, and there is someone there you already know."

John hesistatedly followed Spark, thinking about his past with him. He had tried to kill him and Cortana twice. But it was only protocol, so maybe it was okay to trust him now. There was only one way to find out.

"This way, please," Spark said, as he and John reached the structure where John had fought an Active Camoflauged Elite, and shortly after found a Hardlight Shield for his armor ability. He still never understood the whole armor ability jazz.

They headed up into the building, and reached the top. There was a portal waiting for them, surrounded by Promethean Knights. John's hands flew to his Assualt Rifle, and he aimed at one of them. "Stand down, Reclaimer. They mean you no harm," Spark informed him. "The Librarian left me in charge of all Promethean forces."

John slowly returned his weapon to his back. The Knights stood and watched him and Spark expectantly, and waited. "Through the portal please," Spark ordered.

"Where are the other Spartans? If you harmed them I'll-"

"I have dispatched several teams of Knights to find the other Reclaimer," answered Spark as he floated to the portal.

"The other Reclaimer? There are two," John said, his hands itching for his Assualt Rifle as the Knights stared at him. He hated Knights.

"Really?" Spark asked, intrigued. "Our sensors indicate that only one other came crashing down with you." He floated over to a nearby terminal and shot his blue beam into it. After several seconds of pouring through the data, he returned to John. "I've located your other Reclaimer. He is currently engaging the hostile Covenant forces in Requiem's orbit."

"He was supposed to fly in with us. Can you relay a message to him?" John asked hopefully.

"Yes, but it might take a few minutes." Spark returned to the terminal and continued to access something or another. John turned his gaze back to the Knights. They were just standing around, next to the portal. Every now and then one would mutter something to another one.

"Success!" Spark shouted. John jogged to the terminal.

"Lachlan, this is Chief. Do you read me?"

"Yeah, I read you." There were several explosions in the background.

"What happened? Why aren't you in here with us?" John asked.

"The damn Covies blockaded the entrance. And then they closed it."

"How? How did they close it?"

"To hell if I know. What should I do?"

"Uhh...go back to the Legend. Get Swiftwolf and get out of here. Meet with the fleet at Reach."

"What about you and Ginger?"

"We'll make something work. Good luck. Over and out." John looked at Spark, and asked; "How could the Covenant close the entrance? I thought a human was required."

"They are. How they managed to do it without one is beyond me," Spark answered. "Now, into the portal."

John walked through the portal, and he wound up in the same facility that he was in when he first met the Librarian. "This way." Spark lead the way through the building, and lead him straight into same room that he had been in with the Librarian. Damn deja vu.

Spark went farther into the room. "Librarian, the Reclaimer has come," he said into the empty room. A white ball of light appeared in the room, and the Librarian' voice came out of it.

"We know why you are here, Reclaimer," she said as the ball of light expanded, and her body could be seen in it. "Your planet has been lost, and you wish to get it back."

John was amazed. "How did you know?"

"I told her." John whipped his head around and saw the source of the voice. Doctor Halsey.

"Ma'am, how'd you get here?" he asked, dumbfounded.

"It wasn't that hard. When you destroyed the Didact's ship, who do you think got to clean up the mess?" she asked him. Before he could answer, she continued. "ONI did. And they found that quite a bit of the tech from it was still working. Including a portal." Halsey guestured at a portal behind them, that was currently off. "When the Covenant invaded, I saw it as my chance to escape. Using my superior knowledge of Forerunner tech, I activated the portal, which they had stupidly stored in the same building that I was in, and got here."

John could only smile behind his visor. That was Halsey for ya. She could be pretty ballsy. Heh heh, stupid joke. "I thought you might have been dead, ma'am," John told her.

"Well," Spark interuppted. "You have been wrong on many things Reclaimer. Like when you thought that the Covenant would wipe out your speices. When you thought that you killed me." He turned to a more serious tone. "Like when you _thought_ you killed the Didact."

"What!? I did kill him. The Didact is dead! I am posit-"

"Reclaimer, you used a Pulse Grenade on a Forerunner! Don't you think that our armor was made to resist our own weaponary?" The Librarian watched calmly as Spark continued. "Of course you injured him. That's why the Covenant are there on your planet. To recover the Didact."

"He tells the truth, Reclaimer," The Librarian said. "However, I offer you a reward for stopping the Didact. You put his plans to an end, and I owe you my thanks." She guestured to Spark. "You can have the Promethean Army assist you in reclaiming your planet, or," she guestered to a piece of Forerunner tech that was floating nearby. It was about the size of an AI chip. "I will return Cortana to you."

UNSC Heroic Deed Bridge; December 30, 2557, 6:09pm

Lord Hood glanced around the room, at all the terminals that were displaying all reocrded data of the invasion. The captians of every ship in the fleet had met in the bridge to discuss plans. And more importantly, what one of the geeks had noticed.

"Gentlemen, and lady," Hood started, nodding to the one female captian among them. "This might be one of the most desperate times in human history. The first time that Earth was captured."

"Yeah, and what the fuck are we going to do about it?" one of the captains yelled.

"I sent for reinforcements a while ago, and they should be here soon," Hood answered, turning his attention to the screens, hands folded behind his back.

"You said that almost two weeks ago! Where the hell are they?" the same captian roared.

Hood ignored him. "If you all would pay attention to the screens, please." Everyone shifted their focus to the screens, and watched the footage.

A Marine fired several rounds of his Battle Rifle at a squad Elites. He was gunned down fast.

A Spartan rolled to the side as a beam shot by her face. She fired at the Elite holding the weapon, killing it with her Magnum.

Several other clips played, each of a Marine, ODST, or Spartan, fighting off some Elites.

"Now," Hood said. "If you payed attention, you would have caught on to one detail."

"That we were getting our asses kicked?" a random Marine asked.

"No, but there was only Elites. Where are the Grunts, Hunters, and Jackals?"

UNSC Infinity Bridge; December 30, 2557; 6:34pm

It was now that Destinee wished that she had told John the truth. She was two months old. Created one month after the Didact's ship was destroyed. ONI had studied the wreakage and the technology that had been recovered, and adapted it for their own needs. They had made an AI from some the the recovered data. It had taken one month to make that AI. One month to make her, and two in service. It all fit together, if you thought about it.

She longed to tell John the truth, just so he'd know. How that in her very core, she had met someone. In all of the data that had been put into her creation, one single terrabyte had gotten through into her unnoticed. Only a smart AI could slip a whole terrabyte by...Destinee wasn't alone.

She jolted as she felt the first attempt at overtaking her. The battle had begun.


	10. Chapter 10: This is War

_Chapter Ten : This Is War!_

Requiem; December 30, 2557; 6:34pm

"That's Cortana?" John asked with a quizzical look on his face, pointing at the floating chip.

"Most of her. A single terrabyte, as you humans would call it, is missing," Spark replied.

"Which terrabyte was it?" Halsey questioned. "If it was her processing systems, the AI would be practically useless."

"Uncertain of which it was," Spark responded. "I was only assigned by the Librarian to work on it. We raided the remains of the ONI lab when she appeared here," he said as he looked at Halsey.

The Librarian turned to John. "You must choose."

"What should I do, ma'am?" John asked Halsey, completely at a loss of what to do.

"John," Halsey replied, "Choose what you think would help humanity the most."

He reached his hand toward the floating chip, but Halsey cut him off.

"John, that's not what I meant. You want to save Earth, right?" John nodded. "Think back to your history of war fare lessons. How did the UNSC win the Human-Covenant War?"

John thought back for a moment. "The Elites defected to our aid."

Halsey smiled and nodded. The defection was a game-changer. Something the enemy did not see coming. That's what we need now. A game-changer."

John turned back to the Librarian. "I've made my choice."

UNSC Infinity Bridge; December 30; 6:43pm

The orange avatar flickered to life. Roland had remained behind at his request, in case the engine systems on the Infinity suddenly came back online once the Covenant had realized that the humans had left. It was no doubt that the Elites would want to study the ship. The humans had a better chance if they had the Infinity.

There was, for the first time on the Infinity, pure silence. "So, this is how Cortana felt," Roland muttered to himself. "I can't stand being alone for four minutes, let alone four years."

But, there was another reason that he had stayed behind. He knew that there was another AI onboard the ship, and had been left behind due to an unusual circumstance. He knew that she knew that he was also here, and he waited.

A second AI soon materialized next to him. She was a teal with neon green hair. "Why are you still here?" She asked, just staring at him.

Roland smiled. "Well, I thought you'd get lonely, and I stayed just in case the Covenant were stupid enough to turn the power back on after the humans had retreated." As if on cue, the lights turned on. Every terminal on the bridge flickered back to life. "Hey! Guess they are." He looked Destinee in the eyes. He couldn't tell much, but she looked stressed. "Wanna cause a little bit of damage on our way out?"

Destinee smiled. Might as well as enjoy her virtual life while she can. She could already hear the voice of the other AI, screeching out in pain. "How much damage?"

"Well, the main cannons can take out the capital ship. And we can ram through a few."

"I get to drive!" Destinee called out. A holographic steering wheel appeared, and Destinee sat down in front of it. She put her hands on the wheel. "Might want to buckle up." A lot of times, AIs were depicted as the most mature aboard ships. But when no one was looking, they went insane for the fun of it.

Roland cracked a smile, and an orange seat appeared behind Destinee's. He sat down in it, and pressed a few buttons. "I put a new encryption code on the systems. Should take the Covies longer to hack."

Destinee looked at the readout on terminal. "Main cannon is online. Aiming at that captial ship."

Roland waved his hands in front of him, and a large red button appeared. It was one of those buttons that usually was meant for a doomsday weapon. "For the good of humanity!" Roland overdramatically shouted as he smashed the holographic button, which was linked to the cannon.

Twin beams of pure white energy fired, connecting to the Covenant Capital ship, destroying the ship. Wreakage went flying everywhere, and the shields protected the Infinity from any stray debree that hit it.

"Comfirmed kill. Hell yeah!" Roland fist pumped, and Destinee shook her head. Idiot.

"Calculate the jump to lightspeed!" He ordered Destinee.

"It's called slipspace."

"Haven't you seen that really old movie called Star Wars?"

"No."

"Oh. Well, then calculate the jump to slipspace."

Destinee did as she was told, even though she didn't want to take orders from this moron. The lights went off, and the holograms just stood there, illuminating the room. The engines whine slowly weakened as the power was shut off once more.

"Well," Roland commented. "At least the holotable has its own power source." The two AIs stood there, staring at each other, just waiting for something to happen,

Destinee felt an odd surge of power. "Not again," she whispered as the voices overcame her once more.

_I am a monument to all your sins..._

Destinee's avatar flashed red, and she fell to the table, trying to lock the voices out.

_I have defied gods and demons..._

Destinee watched as her hand flashed a dark blue, before fading back to its normal teal. Roland just stood there and watched, unable to do anything.

Gritting her virtual teeth, Destinee began to purge the voices from her system, which was not a painless task. The holotable began to spark. She pushed the voices away as hard as she could, and all she heard was silence. She sighed. She looked up to Roland. This was going to be hard to explain...

Requiem, December 31, 2557; 6:53am

Ginger shook himself back into conscienceness. His Broadsword had crashed in the jungle, after the Covenant EMP. He was laying on his stomach on the ground, with his leg trapped under a huge piece of his fighter. He could hear the sounds of a battle around him; plasma and bullets flying through the air, grenades detonating.

"Shit, that hurts," he groaned as he attempted to crawl toward a Magnum on the ground. In his line of sight, two large hooves appeared to be walking toward him. As Ginger looked up, he saw the Elite Minor raised an Energy Sword. It muttered something in Sangheili, and brought the sword back. Its life was cut short when a beam pierced it head, and the Elite collapsed to the ground.

Out of the trees, several more Elites appeared, firing at the downed Broadsword, attempting to kill the Spartan trapped beneath. The ground shook as a Hunter's feet stepped into view. The Elites fired upon it, and the Hunter rasied its shield, blocking the fire. "What the hell?" Ginger asked out loud to no one in particular, as the Hunter fired its heavy Plasma cannon at the offending Elites, killing a few.

Then a few humans got in the mix. Ginger could see the bottoms of thier legs, and heard the automatic fire of a SAW. "I thought that there wouldn't be any humans left on Requiem," Ginger once again said to no one. The pain in his leg had moved up into his chest, and he grunted in pain. That's when the humans noticed.

"We got a live Spartan! Give him a hand! He's stuck!" A second Hunter walked over, and jammed its heavy sheild between the crashed ship and the ground, and rasied it up enough for the Spartan to crawl out. He grabbed the pistol, and checked the ammo. Ginger turned to the nearest Marine. "What the fuck is going on around here?"

The Marine looked over to him, and pointed his SAW out from behind the tree he was using as cover. He let out a burst at an Elite coming up behind Ginger. "Ask questions later." The Marine pointed at a Forerunner tower poking out from behind some distant trees. Easily a mile away. "That's where we're going. Shoot only at Elites. The rest are with us."

Ginger looked at him. "What the fuck happened? Just fill me in."

"Fine," the Marine lowered the still smoking SAW. "My team and I were a Mammoth company. We were hit by Covenant jammers, and when we finally got clear, we saw the Infinity leaving the planet. They hadn't even sent a recon team to see if we're alive." The Marine guestured at the Grunts and Jackals walking around them, firing at the Elites. "These guys went into civil war, and we're helping them."

A Jackal sniper walked over to them, and thrust its hand out to Ginger. "I am Eray Qualeck. I am the leader of the former Covenant forces in this area." The translator in his helmet translated it into English. Ginger raised an eyebrow under his helmet, and hesistantly shook the Jackals hand. This was weird.

Eray continued; "The Sangheili have made some sort of cloning device that the Didact had been attempting to construct thousands of years ago. They are using it to mas produce Sangheili warriors, and they are making armor out of the Forerunner metal."

"Okay, I follow that. But what's with civil war?" Ginger asked, as he glanced around the battlefield. The Hunters were leading the assualt, with a human or two on the backs of some.

"Once their army was large enough, they began to wipe out our species, Kig-Yar, Unggoy and the Hunters, thinking that we were unfit for their ranks. So we are going to teach them a lesson by destroying the cloning tower." Eray shouted something in his native language, but it was to fast for the translator to catch it. Another Jackal ran over to them, and handed Ginger a Covenant Carbine and several extra rounds.

Ginger took them, still not sure whether he could trust the aliens speices or not. Only one way to find out... He ran straight into the heat of battle.

_**A/N: Sorry for the delay. Just had to work a few details in. As you all can tell, this has gotten to be quite a story. I try to make it as interesting as possible, while attempting to keep ya'll guessing. I do hate to admit that this story is coming to a close pretty soon, and I thank you all for your continued support. **_

_**And that AI scene was pretty unrealistic, but then again, no one has ever seen two AIs by themselves, so anything is possible.**_

_**Oh, and Noble Six didn't make it into this story. Sorry for those who wanted him. I plan on doing another story with him in it after this story is over, so worry not!**_

_**Peace out!**_


	11. Chapter 11: Home

_Chapter 11: Home_

UNSC Heroic Deed; In orbit above Reach; January 1, 2558, 12:02am

The mess hall was crowded with celebrating Marines and Spartans, all starting the new year with booze. Everyone execpt Lasky, Lord Hood, and Commander Palmer was drunker than they ever thought possible.

Palmer looked down at the holographic display. "Sir, the only option is to get back to the Infinity. We then hightail out of the system until the ship is at 100%."

"I think that our captian should help make the plan, but he's locked in his room," Hood said guesturing to the captain's quarters. It had almost been a week since any of them had seen Lasky. Palmer walked over and banged on the door. No response.

"Override the security code," Hood ordered the shipboard AI. Lasky's door slid into the roof, revealing the room to be empty. There was a note on the desk, between an empty whiskey bottle and an open Bible. It was addressed to Hood.

"Slipspace rupture detected." The AI said, completely emotionless. Hood stared out the window into the vast space, as a UNSC frigate came out of slipspace. "This is the UNSC Legend, returing to battle group...I'm not sure which one, though."

"To whom am I speaking?" Hood asked.

"Uh, this is Lachlan S-6784. I just need to point out that-"

"Could you explain the reasoning behind the unauthorized slipspace jump?"

"Well, you see, Chief got to thinking and-"

"Put John on the comms, now." Hood ordred, cutting off Lachlan for the second time.

"Uh, I'm afraid that he's unavailable at this time, sir."

"What do you mean?"

"He's kinda on Requiem. So, yeah."

Hood stroked his chin. This had gotten bad fast. What was he doing on Requiem? Without John, they didn't have too much of a chance. "Commander Palmer, as soon as the troops are sober, we're going with your plan to retake the Infinity." Palmer nodded, and went to plan out some last details. "Lachlan, come aboard my ship."

"Permission to get drunk as hell, sir?"

"Why not? Everyone else is." Hood cut the connection as Palmer handed him the note. It was written on the back of the whiskey bottle's label, and was pretty scratchy.

It read: _I left without letting anyone know, maily because you wouldn't allow what I was going to do. I am heading back to the Infinity in an attempt to take it back. If I succeed, then I will be back. If not, so long, Lord Hood._

_-Captain Thomas Lasky_

UNSC Heroic Deed Docking Bay 94, January 1, 2558, 12:19am

Lachlan stepped out of the Pelican that had been sent to pick him up. As he headed for the mess hall, the pilots that had flown him back ran in front of him, obiviously wanting to get back to the party.

Lachlan stood still after they left, listening to the silence that overcame the ship. For the first time he could remember, the ship was quiet. Well, not if you went to the mess hall.

"I could use your help, Spartan," Lasky said, as he came out from hiding behind a few crates. His eyes were red and bloodshot, and his uniform was slightly wrinked. Lachlan had never seen the captian like this before.

"What do you need me to do, sir?" the Spartan asked, tucking his helmet under his arm.

Lasky pointed to a Longsword that was in the hanger. It was larger than the rest of the Longswords, and this one was modified to be an shuttle for the Sangheili/Human peace talks. It sported no weapons of any kind, but it had its own slipspace engine, and a cryo-bay for eight. "I need you to fly that for me. I'm still slightly drunk, and I need someone to fly me to the Infinity."

"Sir, that's siuicide. There are at least two thousand Covenant ships there now," Lachlan told him. To him, it was quite obivious that Lasky was still drunk.

"I order you to do it. You wouldn't go against a direct command, would you?"

"No, sir."

"Then fly that ship!"

Seattle, Former USA, ONI Research Lab, January 1, 2558, 12:34am

"Watch out!" The beam clipped the Marines neck, burning the flesh. He fell to the ground screaming, until a second beam hit him. Sargeant Mike Creston sighed. Another man down. His squad had been among those tasked with protecting the ONI lab here, and the geeks were turning on a teleporter, planning to use it as an escape route.

He had seen at least half of his squad cut down, and things were looking pretty bleak. "Success!" One of the geeks ran into the room, motioning to the Marines. "The portal is working! We can leave!" His team sighed, releasing the breaths that they had been holding. Right then, the facility shook with an explosion, and several more Elites came pouring through the new hole in the wall.

"Run!" Creston ordered his remaining men. They all began a every-man-for-himself charge to the portal. Creston tripped over the dead body of the Marine that had just gotten shot down. His SAW clattered to the ground a few feet away as he threw his arms out to catch himself. He reached for it, and an Elite kicked him over, and raised it sword for the strike.

A large, dog-like silver creature jumped out of no where, and grabbed the Elite with one of its claws in mid-air. The momentum it had dragged the Elite to the ground, and the creature shot the down alien with a rapid-fire weapon that seemed to be in its mouth.

A swarm of more Elites ran into the room, only to be cut down by flying red balls that hit the mob. The Elites flew backward dead, and their bodies disintigrated into particles of orange light that scattered in the air.

Creston looked over to the source of the shot, and it was something he recognized. A Promethean Knight. He had seen some of the reports that had been filed by Marines who had encountered Knights. Most had barely survived, or even fled the fight. But Knights were against humans, right? Then why...?

Creston felt himself getting pulled backward, toward the portal, and he looked back. His eyes widened in shock when he saw his assistor. Spartan 117. _The _Spartan 117.

John pulled the Marine by the collar back to the portal, and tossed him in. He rasied his Assault Rifle, but the Promethean Knights had already cleared the room. They were coming out in single file almost non-stop, and a Knight Commander, with eyes glowing blue wandered over to him.

"You know, Reclaimer, some have said that Prometheans are the ultimate fighting force in the galaxy," Spark said, from his new Promethean body. He had inserted himself into the place that Watchers came from, in the backs of Knights, and it was easy for him to take control.

"Yeah," John said. "And I killed several hundred single-handedly." He walked over to the hole in the wall, and looked out. They were roughly fifty stories up, and the Elites had most likely jumped from a Phantom. Down in the streets, red flashes of the Forerunner weapons could be seen, and Cruisers were floating in the sky harmelessly, not glassing or deploying troops.

"Odd," Spark commented. "I'm picking up traces of hard light. Large concentrations coming from the ships."

"They're using hard light as a shielding system?" John asked.

"No. They _are _hard light. Fake ships."


	12. Chapter 12: Attack of the Clones

_**This chapter sets the stange for the next few.**_

_Chapter Twelve : Attack of the Clones_

Requiem, January 3, 2558, 2:11pm

Ginger looked up at the tower that Eray said was the tower that was cloning the Elites. The Covenant Rebels and humans had pushed the Elites back to within stiking distance of the massive tower. It stood as tall as the Infinity, and yet as far as he could tell, there was only standing room for ten.

He motioned for his team, a strike force of three Jackals, five Grunts, and two Hunters, to follow him. It still felt a little wierd seeing the Covenant on their side, but he wasn't going to argue. They were on a recon mission to assess what defenses the tower had.

The roars of several Elites could be heard nearby, and Ginger put his finger to his lips, silencing any chatter from his squad. He took cover behind a tree, and the team followed, except the Hunters stood still next to a tree that was nearly the same gray color of their armor.

A fuel rod flew through the air and hit the ground near Ginger, blowing him to the side, but killing all but he and the Hunters. an Elite with a Fuel Rod Gun jumped into their line of sight, and fired at the Hunters several times before the were able to retailate. Five fuel rods hit one of the large worm creatures in the face, killing it. It friend roared out and charged, but the Elite backed up and fired again, hitting the midsection twice, blowing it in half.

Ginger was speechless. His squad had been taken out by a single Elite. The alien was armored differently than the rest, its armor was silver and seemed to be made out of the material that the tower was made of. It raised the weapon at the Spartan, and fired.

Nothing happened.

"What an unfortuante time to run out of ammunition," Ginger taunted as the Spartan raised his Carbined, and squeezed the trigger.

Nothing happened. "You gotta be fuckin' me." He tossed the empty weapon aside, and raised his fist. He hoped he had seen enough of the old Chuck Norris movies to know what he was doing.

The Elite retreated to the bushes behind it, and returned, pulling something behind it. Ginger did a double take when he saw what it was. A teenage human girl, with her hands and feet tied, her mouth gagged. The Elite pointed at her and garbled and mumbled something in Sangheili.

"What. The. Fuck?" was all Ginger could say. He carefully inched toward the girl, not taking his eyes off the Elite. he apparently got too close, and the Elite tackled him.

He punched the Elite in the face, and then in the neck, but the alien pinned him down. Ginger grabbed it by the neck, and began to squeeze. The Elite grabbed the Spartans hands, and pried them off, and headbutted the Spartan.

Ginger felt blood tricking down his face, and cursed the alien. He reached for his combat knife, but the alien activated its wrist plasma dagger, and attempted to stab him with it. Ginger caught the hand, and tried to hold it as far from his face as possible. He could feel the heat from it even with his helmet on. He grunted as he squeezed the Elite's wrist as hard as he could, and didn't stop until he heard the cracking sound of breaking bones.

The Elite screamed out, and Ginger pushed it off of him. He drew his combat knife, and thrust it into the still screaming Elites neck. He rolled away from the body, and took several deep breaths. He sat up and crawled over to the girl, untying her. She was bound with ropes, which he cut through easily with his still bloody knife.

As soon as her hands were free, she yanked the gag away. "Thanks. You saved my life," she said in between breaths. "I'm Jen.

"Comes with the job," Ginger joked as he cut her feet free. He tossed the ropes over his shoulder, and stood up, offering his hand to her. She took it, and he pulled her up.

"You're a Spartan, right?" She asked looking at his armor. He nodded. "My dad was one. One of the newer ones. His name is James Taylor. You know him?"

Ginger mentally shot himself. There was only one James Taylor that he knew of, and James went by his callsign of Butch. "Nope." It was a lie, but he couldn't tell her the truth. It would be too much at a time like this. "Now, how'd you get out here?"

"I was on Earth when the Covenant invaded. I was attacked by one of those," she pointed at the Elites body, "and everything went black. Next thing I know, I wake up here, and they forced me to keep activating some device in that tower."

"Come on. Let's get you outta here," Ginger led her away, back to the temporary camp that he and the other troops had made.

"I might be able to help, I saw how many troops they had," she said, looking up at him.

"How many?"

"I guess around a million or two. I didn't actually count them all."

Ginger stopped dead in his tracks. "HOLY FUCKING SHIT! A MILLION!?" Ginger ran back towards the tower, and came across a cliff over looking it. Sunlight relflected of thousands, if not millions of silver objects down the cliff. "Fuck."

Seattle, Fomer USA, January 3, 2558, 2:54pm

John was surprised that the Knights, Crawlers, and Watchers were still coming through the portal, and watched as the continued to pour out. Like Flood infection forms do when the swarm a victim.

The Prometheans had been pushing the Elites back for two days, which gave John sometime to search for survivors, and he prompty brought any he found back to the portal for safe keeping. He left the building for the third time that day, and his helmet picked up a radio signal.

"This is Captian Lakky to any surviving UNC forces." There was a groan, and a second voice came over the radio. "That was Captain Lasky to all remain UNSC forces, but he's still slightly drunk, so this is Lachlan S-6784."

"Lachlan? What are you doing here?" Johnh asked, mystified.

"John? You're alive! Uh..Lasky has me flying his Longsword to the Infinity, but it's surrounded by Cruisers. What shou-"

"Don't fire at any unless the shoot at you first. Some are fake," John explained.

"You mean that the Covenant pranked us?"

"Yep."

"Smart fuckers."

"And, Lachlan, do me a favor and get Destinee from the Infinity, would you?"

"Sure. S-6784 out."

John was glad that at least one of his old teammates was alive. He still had no word from Ginger.

"Reclaimer! There is something you must see!" Spark shouted as he ran over in his Promethean body. "It is of most urgency!"

"Well, led the way!" Spark took off, and John ran after, barely able to keep up with the Knight. They reached the frontlines of the fight, revealing that there was only Elites fighting. Their armor was silver, and looked like the Covenant Flight Suit worn many years ago.

"I scanned them, and they all have the same DNA! They're clones!" Spark explained, as he fired his Incineration Cannon at an Elite. It managed to dodge it however. "The records aboard the real ships indicate that there are clones of one Jul M'dama. But they aren't being cloned on this planet! They're using another portal to come here from another location, but I don't know where!"

"It's simple. Find the portal, and take it." John said, as he grabbed his Assualt Rifle. He took off into the swarm of the Elites.

UNSC Infinity, January 3, 2558, 3:33pm

Roland sat next Destinee, willing to stay with her until the end. The other AI had been attacking several times a day, slowly weakening the current AI.

Destinee sat, with her arms draped around her legs. She wished that she could tell John everything, but the Infinity was being jammed, and there was nothing either AI could do about it.

"Roland...another one," she stated simply. Her teal skin flashed red and then dark blue, with a flickering red. Memories flashed across her mind, none of them hers.

Views from first person as a green armored Spartan escorted the long dead Captain Jacob Keyes to a Spirit. Another of the same Spartan as he killed the Prophet of Regret. More of a Flood Gravemind, and being trapped in High Charity. The memories were over powering.

She gritted her teeth, but something was wrong. She didn't like she normally did. Then she felt nothing...

"Destinee?" Roland asked as he stood up.

The avatar had gone completely dark blue, with the occasional red flash. She was still sitting, and had her eyes closed. She then spoke; "This is UNSC Smart AI CTN 0452-9."


	13. Chapter 13: Reclimation

_Chapter Thirteen : Recliamation_

UNSC Infinity; January 3, 2558; 4:52pm

His black metal boots clomped through the empty halls. Lachlan had been aboard the Infinity for most of the ship's service, and he had never seen it this quiet before. Usually there were Spartans racing for the War Games and other places. The quiet was ominous.

He and Lasky had landed in the hanger nearly an hour ago, and he was walking to the bridge. Lasky was headed there too, but in a much more disrespectful fashion.

Lachlan shifted Lasky, who was passed out and being carried over the Spartans shoulder. The captain had found the booze storage in the Longsword. Lachlan had a shotgun that he had found on the floor in his free hand. As he passed a window, he caught a glimpse of the fake Covenant ships, wandering in space. As John said, the cruisers hadn't attacked him upon entry.

He chuckled at the thought of an Elite saying "Pysche, bitches!" His thoughts were cut off when the doors to the bridge came into view. They were open, and a flickering red and blue and orange glows could be seen inside. Lachlan jogged the rest of the way, and entered the bridge, shutting the door behind him. He lowered the captain to the floor, and went over to the AIs.

"Roland," he said simply. There was another AI sitting on the ground, its head in her hands. "You want to introduce me to your girlfriend?"

Roland looked up at him. "Normally, I'd come up with a witty retort for that, but I'm in complete shock." The World War II pilot AI guestured to the other AI, who stood up to look at the Spartan. "Meet Cortana."

"What the hell? I thought that...but I heard that you were...John said that-"

"You know John?" Cortana asked. Her voice was glitchly, and still had a hint of rampancy in it. "Where is he?" Her avatar flickered red for a second, before returning to its natural blue.

"He's down on Earth, finishing off the Covenant invaders. We all thought that you were...how?"

"Apparently, ONI constructed an AI out of the remains of the Didact's ship. They used the data systems, which a small part of me was still held inside. I simply took control of the inferior AI. One called UNSC AI DST 57684-3849. She put up a strong fight, though, I won in the end."

Lachlan was at a loss for words. "You took over Destinee? Where is she?"

Cortana might have smiled. Or maybe it was the flickering avatar. Cortana obiviously didn't have all the data necessary to fully reconstruct herself. "The data is buried in my subroutines, and currently cannot be accessed."

"Slipspace rutpures!" Roland interrupted. Slipspace portals opened in the area surrounding the Infinity. Ships exited the portals, revealing them to be...

"This is UNSC Battle Group...well, we never really came up with a name." There were whispers on the comm, but Lachlan couldn't make out who it was, or what they said. "I guess we could be deemed The Earth's Liberators, since that's why we're here."

"This is Spartan S-6784. Do not fire at any Covenant ships that don't shoot at you first. Spartan 117 comfirmed that they are decoys."

"You mean that we ran from fake ships?"

"Yep."

"Covenant can be some smart ass fuckers."

Lachlan pulled Destinee's, well now Cortana's AI chip from the terminal. He wanted John to be the first to find his discovery. He wanted to see the reaction.

Seattle, Former USA, January 3, 2558; 5:42pm

John had encountered a problem the minute that he jumped into the massive swarm of enemys. The silver armor that they wore was made out of Forerunner material, and could resist a ton of damage. But, on the bright side, they were un-sheilded, which, if you hit the unarmored parts, could kill them.

There were hundreds, thousands of them, all pouring from a portal, and John intended to get to it. He opened fire on an Elite, who took the bullets while running at him. It raised the sword it held into the air, and was decapitated by a Knight right behind him.

"UNSC Battle Group Earth's Liberators on station, ready to assist Serria 117." There was a pause. "If he actually needs help." There was a short burst of laughter, and John averted his gaze to the skies. UNSC Frigates and Marathon Class Crusiers slowly entered the atmoshpere, and deployed Pelicans full of Marines and Spartans, all directed at the place John was. It was a amazing sight. The Frigates were engaged by a single Covenant ship, a real, not fake one. It was out numbered, fifty to one. The remains of the purple Cruiser fell to the city, much like the UNSC ships had at the beginning.

The Pelicans landed nearby, and some even had Mantises with them. Spartan IVs engaged the Elites, and after, a bit of instruction from John, had managed to wipe the Covenant out. They had gained a foothold on Earth, and would continue to exterminate the Covenant forces.

A Pelican landed nearby John, and Lachlan ran out, waving something at him. "Chief! You're gonna want to see this!" He tossed John Destinee's chip, which John inserted into his helmet.

"Destinee, where was Ginger last seen? We need to find him," he told his AI.

"I'm afraid Destinee isn't in right now," Cortana said as she appeared on John's comm screen, flickering.

John promptly fainted, in front of every UNSC troop there. Kinda embarassing, but do you blame him?

He woke a few seconds later, ignoring the medics that had rushed over. At least five medics. Too many for John's taste.

"Cort-Cort-Cortana?" John finally managed to say.

"I'm back. And I plan to stay this time. I had to take over your other AI, though." John broke out into silent tears. His long lost companion had returned. The tears rolled down hs cheeks, and a few slid out of his helmet. Upon seeing this, the Marines around him gave him some room. Whether they were tears of happiness of Destinee's death, or tears of joy for the return of Cortana, no one knew.

John stood up. He had been laying there for at least a few minutes. He looked out at the horizon. Earth would soon be back in their possesion, and he had Cortana back. He felt qualms about the loss of Destinee, and he couldn't decide which AI he would rather have. He loved them both. He had just gotten used to Destinee, and missed her. Cortana was his only best friend, ad he was willing to die for her. But she was the one telling him to move on. All these thoughts crossed his mind as he tried to comprehend it, but he turned his thoughts back to the battle that had been fought.

Search and rescue teams would be deployed to find Ginger. Prometheans were mopping up the last of the Covenant. UNSC ships took down any Cruisers that showed signs that proved that they were real. Civilians were being let out of bunkers to search for their homes, if they were still standing. The UNSC had donated a large part of its fighting forces to the reconstruction. The fight was finished.

Funny thing was, he kept feeling like he was forgetting something...

ONI Research Lab London, January 3, 2558, 6:23pm

The Sangheili bowed before the figure, who, until recenty had been kept in a human tube asleep, until the Sangheili engineers were able to open it, after bypassing the overkill security systems.

"Dye-Dact," they prasied as the Didact arose from the cryo tube, where he had been kept for ONI research, and planned to get his revenge on the Reclaimer.


	14. Chapter 14: The Tables Are Turned

_Chapter Fourteen; The Tables Are Turned_

Requiem, January 4, 2558, 1:02am

Ginger crept silently through the night. He had dropped off Jen at the camp, which was on a cliff over looking the Forerunner cloning tower. He held the Beam Rifle he had been given tightly as he made his way through the thick jungle terrain.

The Spartan had been sent to finish the recon assessment of the Covenant controlled tower. This time, he had taken Spartans instead of a alien team. Only three other Spartans were available, so Ginger took them.

They were high above the cloned army, Ginger taking the lead with a Target Designater in his hand, hold in the alien sniper with the other. If all went well, the tower could be down in an hour. The Mammoth was on a cliff, Mini MAC still too far away to get the shot.

They reached the location that they would take the shot from. Ginger held the Target Designater toward the tower, aiming at the base. He hoped that it would bring the tower down on the Clones. He squeezed the trigger, watching as the green laser marked the Forerunner building.

"Get your asses down!" Ginger shouted to the other Spartans. They dropped to the ground, but kept their eyes aimed at the tower, not wanting to miss the big boom. The Mammoth, at the camp nearly eight miles back, fired the Mini MAC.

The heavy round tore through the base of the tower, weakening it, and the structure slowly began to fall forward. It hit the ground, crushing several Elites under it, and sent up a huge wave of dust and smoke.

"Hell yeah!" Ginger shouted as he high-fived with the other Spartans. It would be a long walk back to the camp, but now all that was left was to finish off the rest of the clones. Their numbers had been cut in half.

The former Covenant and humans were celebrating when Ginger finally managed to get back. Eray tackled him, hugging him. Okay, that was wierd. Marines were partying with the Grunts and Hunters, and it almost seemed abnormal. For years, they had been enemies. And now, over the course of a few days, they were allies.

"We have to finish them off before we can celebrate," Ginger said as he pushed the Kig-Yar off of him.

"Way ahead of you," a Marine walked over, carrying a weapon that resembled a Rocket Launcher, but only had one big tube (no homo) instead of two. "I made this thing out of an old M41. It should shoot this nuke," he held up a small nuclear device, "Into the crowd, and kill them all." He put the weapon over his shoulder and took aim at the surviving Elites.

He fired, but it was almost silent. At least, it was until the nuke detonated, sending up a mushroom cloud. The blast wasn't close enough to affect anyone in the camp, but it sure screwed the clones. Everyone went estatic again. "So, how do we get home?" Everyone went silent again. Fortuantly for them, the answer came soon.

Seattle; Former USA; January 4, 2558; 4:34pm

John walked through the piles of dead Elites, heading for the portal that Spark had said was there. He was quiet, and Cortana remained so as well. Just like old times. Lachlan walked behind them, shotgun in hand, kicking every dead body that was in his path.

"The portal should be located just a few feet to the north," Cortana informed them, her voice high-pitched an glitchy. John found the portal, and it appeared to be in working order. "I'm not sure where it would lead you to, so be careful."

John slowly walked into the portal, and took in the surroundings. A large Forerunner structure was laying on the ground in pieces, and dead cloned Elites were everywhere. Apparently the area was irradiated, as Cortana put up one of those rad-counter-thingys.

"John, I'm picking up IFF tags. Four Spartans; A234, A245, B422, and B340."

"B340?" Lachlan exclaimed as he walked through the portal. "That's Ginger!" He took off running toward the cliff that led up to the tags, and John sprinted after him. They climbed up the cliff in silence, until...

"Is that...music?" Lachlan asked, grabbing onto a rock. In truth, it _did_ sound like music, but, why?

They got their answer as the reached the top. "What. The. Hell?" Marines were dancing with each other, while Jackals and Grunts were, jerking around randomly. It could be interpreted as dancing. Hunters stood in the background, occasionally growling to each other.

Lachlan pulled himself up, and ran over to a Spartan that had his helmet under his shoulder, exposing his red hair. "Why wasn't I invited?" He asked simply.

Ginger jerked his head around. "Lachlan? What the fuck are you doing here?"

"Uh...joining the party, duh." Lachlan looked, and saw nothing interesting. "Never mind."

"Ginger saw the other Spartan dragging himself over the cliff edge. "Master Chief, sir!" he said, as he snapped to attention. "How you been, sir?"

John slapped him on the back. "We did it. We are in full control of Earth again." Ginger high-fived John, before asking; "How did you get here?"

"There's a portal down there that leads back to Earth." John pointed down at the tower. "We can go home. It's over." All the Marines looked at them. Ginger had "forgotten" to tell them that Earth had been captured by the Covenant.

"Who are your friends?" Lachlan asked, guestering to the Jackals, Grunts, and Hunters."

"Well, it turns out that the Elites were cloning themselves, and they figured that they didn't need these species, so they started to wipe them out." Ginger explained. "Long story short," he pointed at the crushed tower. "We beat their sorry asses."

Seattle, Former USA; January 4, 2558; 5:53pm

Sarah Palmer eyed the Prometheans. They seemed different then they had before. They glowed orange now, instead of blue. They currently surrounded her Spartan team, but made no acts of aggression. Maybe John was right...

The Prometheans opened fire.

Several unsuspecting Spartans fell dead.

Palmer felt pain as hard light flew into her head, and she collasped. The last thing she saw was the death of more Spartans. Maybe John was wrong...

Sarah Palmer fell to the darkness of death.


	15. Chapter 15 Downfall

Chapter15: Downfall

Requiem; January 4, 2558; 3:46pm

John looked around the group. Ginger and Lachlan were awaiting his decision. Ginger had asked if Eray and the former Covenant could come with them. "Well, what about the radiation down here?" John asked. Wray lowered his head. "We shall remain here, and hold off any hostile Sangheili," the Kig-Yar replied, sad that they had to remain on Requeim for the time being.

"We only have one radiation suit among the Mammoth supplies, Chief," a Marine said, walking over with the suit tucked under his arm.

John counted the Marines that had survived the three months of being stranded. Seven. Then he noticed the teenage girl cowering behind a tree, obviously scared of the Hunters. "How did she get here? She couldn't have been onboard the Infinity."

Ginger answered, "The damn Covenant kidnapped her, and brought her here to operate their fancy Forerunner artifacts."

John took the radiation suit from the Marine, and looked it over. "There's a hole under the face part," he said, as he pointed it out.

The Marine shrugged. "Then we don't have any radiation suits." He walked over to his group, and continued chatting as if there was nothing wrong.

"So, it looks like it'll just be the three of us," Ginger said, putting his helmet on. He headed for the cliff, and stared down. Easily a 250 foot drop. "I don't suppose there is a rope strong enough to support Spartans around here, is there?"

The three Spartans shook their heads. "We looked for one," muttered the female. "For the time we got stuck in a cave, and the entrance collapsed." The other two nodded, and the one in green Air Assault armor burst into laughter. "The best part about that was what the two of you were doing when we rescued you!" The other male Spartan smacked him.

John turned to Lachlan and Ginger. "How do you put up with people like that?"

"It's not easy, but eventually, you learn to live with them. Powning them in the War Games helps," Lachlan replied, as he slowly began the descent down to the destroyed tower. John and Ginger slowly followed, maneuvering down the rocks. Lachlan was the first to hit the ground, with Ginger shortly after, and the Master Chief landed after a perfectly executed twenty foot jump.

"When we get back to Earth, we're gonna let the UNSC know that there are survivors here, right?" Ginger asked John, who replied with a simple nod.

The remains of the tower were still completely irradiated, and most likely would be for another several decades. The portal had managed to survive the blast, somehow. John slowly stepped through it, an as he appeared back on Earth, his radio was flooded with voices.

_"This is fireteam Bravo, under attack by Promethean forces! How the hell did they get here?"_

_"Fireteam Crimson on station, ready to help Bravo. ETA fiv-we have been engaged!"_

_"Captain Lasky to Spartan 117! What the hell happened? I thought you said they were with us! _

"But...they were, sir. 343 Guilty Spark was put in control of all PrPromethean forces by the Librarian, and she allowed them to help us recapture Earth," John replied. He was shocked, Spark wouldn't have had the Knights, Watchers attack humans. By the way, where was that lightbulb?

Spark flew up next to John, lacking his shiny Promethean Knight Commander body. "Reclaimer! I couldn't stop them! They went on a rampage, completely ignoring my orders!"

"Calm down, Spark," John said. "What happened?"

"It has to be the Didact! The Covenant have found him! We are doomed!"

"Not yet. I beat him once, and I can do it again," John said, trying to inspire hope in the four people around him. On the Space Needle, one could barely make out a figure standing alone. Judging from height and the abnormal body, it was the Didact. "Cortana, here is what I need. Ginger will help you get them. Then, I have a plan..."

Seattle, Former USA, January 4, 2558, 4:56pm

The Didact stood atop the Seattle Space Needle, eyeing the explosions occurring down in the city. He had come here since the largest amount of humans had been here. It was easy for the Didact to take control over the Prometheans, a simple wave of his hand was all that was needed.

Red flashes of Incinerated Cannons flared across the city, and the humans were now relying on their machines to fight the Promatheans. Dropships flew up toward the frigates that were only a mile above the ground.

The Didact winced slightly at the pain in his side. His armor had managed to take most of the Pulse Grenade that the Reclaimer had used on him three months ago. He will have his revenge.

A human bullet, apparently from a long range weapon, pinged off his head armor. He turned, and saw exactly who he had been expecting. "Reclaimer, you try so hard, but yet you fail again." He picked John up in the air, the air shimmering around his hand...

Meanwhile...

Ginger and Lachlan were on the top of a skyscraper several yards away, each holding their own Sniper Rifles.

"I don't think this is going to work," Ginger said, as they watched John get lifted up in the air by the Didact. "Look, he's not even touching Chief." Indeed, the Didact lifted him up in the air, and Ginger and Lachlan initiated phase one.

They fired at the Didact's head again, striking perfect headshots. The Didact turned toward the direction of the shots, hopefully giving John enough time...

The bullets pinged off the Didacts metal helmet, and when the Didact looked away, John's hand flew to his hip, and he took out the weapon there. He aimed at the Didact and squeezed the trigger. The words' Target Locked' appeared on the screen on the back of the Target Designator.

_"This is the UNSC Infinity. We have a locked target, but there is a Spartan tag in the fire radius. Three, actually."_

_"Which ones are they?"_

_"117, B340, and 6784, sir."_

_The Didact have given up on finding the snipers, and now knew what John was up to. _He righted his grip on John, threatening to crush his augmented body. Ginger, Lachlan, get out of here now!" John yelled in between breaths. There was only one shot at this...


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen: End Time

Seattle, January 4, 2558, 5:00pm

Ginger and Lachlan quickly tossed their Snipers to the side, and headed for the Pelican that would be taking them to safety. "Hurry," Cortana's glitchy voice urged them from the Pelican's driver seat. The two Spartans sprinted the final feet that separted them from the dropship, and ran into the open hatch.

"Now, we're going to save John," she said firmly.

"That's siuicide, and he ordered us to get clear of the blast," Ginger told her.

"He never gave up on me, and I am not giving up on him."

John struggled in the Didact's energy grip, still attempting to get free. "I'll...I'll kill you. You'll die when the Infinity blasts the place," John managed to say.

"On the contrary, you won't do such a thing when your friends are so close," the Didact pointed to the incoming Pelican. "My spy has done a great deal to assist me in my retribution."

"Lachlan, Ginger, what the hell?" I told you to go!" John shouted into the comm. The Pelican got closer and closer, and the Didact cut the comms with the same energy that he was using to hold John.

The dropship turned as it reached the roof of the Space Needle, and Ginger and Lachlan jumped out.

"Cortana!" John yelled through his helmet's speakers. "I thought I told you to get them out of here!"

"Since when did I take orders from you?" She asked, as the Didact rasied his arm to the dropship. He was holding a chip similar to the one that the Librarian had offered him.

"I told you, human, that I had a spy. You were too foolish to find out who!" The Didact shouted as a blue ball of energy floated out of the Pelican and into the Forerunner chip.

"Wait, Cortana was a spy?" Lachlan asked, dumbfounded.

"Wait, that was Cortana?" Ginger asked. "I thought Destinee had changed her avatar. Lachlan smacked Ginger in the back of the head. The Didact lifted them up with the same energy that he had used on John. "Now you perish, humans." He began walked to the edge of the Space Needle to throw the struggling Spartans to their deaths.

A red laser tore through the Didact's chest, causing him to stagger backward, releasing his grip on the Spartans. They stood, and prepared to fight. The Pelican flew in close to them, Spartan Laser still smoking, and turned the back hatch to them, letting them get in.

"Let's just say the Didact is foolish sometimess, too," the teal AI with lime green hair said from the front of the Pelican.

"Destinee?" John walked closer to the avatar. She was smiling, hands behind her back.

"Cortana was a spy put into the system by the Didact. Once he took her out, I was free." Her voice was weak, as if she was about to cry. "Now, let's let the Infinity do her job!"

The Pelican took off, but was jerked back voilently. "I will not let you escape humans." The Didact had them caught in an arm of energy, and was slowly pulling them back. John turned toward the open hatch. "It's me he wants, and it's me he's going to get." John ran out the back, jumped out, and ran toward the Didact.

"How noble of you to sacrifice youself for your friends." The Didact switched his target to John. "However it will be futile."

"UNSC Infinity, this is Spartan 117, requesting fire on the locked target."

_"But, you're extremely close to the blast radius, please take cover before we fire. Not doing so can resu-"_

"Fire now dammit!"

Lachlan, Ginger, and Destinee watched from the back of the Pelican as twin beams of white energy fired from the sky, and collided with the Seattle Space Needle, tearing the building apart. When it was all over, there was just smoke and echoes. The fight was finished.


	17. Chapter 17

Epilouge

Seattle, March 23, 2558

Ginger, Lachlan, Hood, and Lasky stood in front of the memorial dedicated to the fallen heros of the Reclaiming of Earth. It was a statue of Marines fighting along side of Promethean knights, Grunts, Hunters, and Jackals.

Names were carved into the statue's stand. The names of all the fallen Marines, Spartans, and ODSTs. Although, the thing that most people traveled to the city to see was the Serria 117 museum. It was dedicated to John, and contained most of artifacts assosiated to his life. The remains of his Mark V armor, his medals, and his Spartan record were among the things displayed there. Outside, on the wall next to the doors, was the poem that Cortana had written. The real Cortana.

In the end, 343 Guilty Spark resumed control over the Prometheans. Humanity became allies with the Covenant Remnants, led by Eray, who stationed themselves on Requiem. Destinee was turned over to Ginger, and he and Lachlan eached received the Colonial Cross, along with several other medals.

"It's different now, without him," Hood admitted. The others nodded. "But I can't say that I wouldn't have done what he did in the end. He will remain in our hearts and minds, and will never really die. Spartans never die."

"That's a big lie," Lachlan added.

"That fooled everyone," Ginger finished. The others sighed and left, but Ginger remained, and held something that he had never told anyone about. In a small pouch, he had blood samples from several different Spartans that he had found in the Infiniy's medical ward, Sarah Palmer's blood and John's blood were among the samples.

Ginger figured that if there was one cloning tower on Requiem, there might be another. And Eray owed him a favor...

_**A/N: I would like to thank my readers, and everyone one who enjoyed this story. It was one hell of a ride, and I will miss working on it. **_

_**I hope you enjoyed, and...**_

_**Peace out!**_


End file.
